[2020-01-28] Your Bitcoin Should Be Seized to Pay for Climate Reparations

[bbc.reporter]

Agreed if she campaigns for seizure of the oil companies and car companies profits also. They have been responsible for the destruction of the environment for years before the first coin in the cryptospace.



Bitcoin uses a gargantuan amount of electric power, which rubs climate activists the wrong way. Some of them want to go to extreme lengths and confiscate your coins to pay for the alleged damage that has been done to the environment. 

During a heated Twitter debate, security researcher Eleanor Saitta came up with a wild idea to seize the holdings of everyone who works with Bitcoin in 2020. In fact, she is convinced that all your assets, including historical earnings, should be confiscated to pay for "climate reparations."

Read in full https://u.today/your-bitcoin-btc-should-be-seized-to-pay-for-climate-reparations-says-security-consultant

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[LibraryAnn]

People like her need to find something better to do.  She will easily convince some people that Bitcoin is the enemy of our climate.

[CryptoBry]

I could have agreed with Eleanor Saitta if it is only Bitcoin that is consuming the power or electricity of all the myriad of industries we already have. Although I am personally pushing for maybe a better or improved Bitcoin mining technology that can consume lesser power, putting the big blame on  this industry is unwarranted and unacceptable. This is just actually one of the many ills manifesting with climate change activists, they think that they are the most righteous and the most authoritative on the whole matter and that we should be listening to all they are saying. I am not then wondering why there is also a growing number of people questioning these activists because some of their conclusions and recommended of actions can be misguided. I am not trying to defend Bitcoin mining here but we should look at things with a better perspective and not make something just another scapegoat and maybe even use as a launching pad for a hidden agenda just lurking at the background.

[Jating]

She should have her mind check, stop with this non-sense. Climate change or at at least the worsening of mother nature was due to several factors and she shouldn't blame everything on bitcoin mining. So blame the banking system as well they also produce 'green-house' effect.

I think he just needed some attention here, otherwise she really need to do something else in her life instead of pointing fingers to bitcoin.

[Carlton Banks]

lol

[cr1776]

Power consumption provides network security.  I'm sure she'd much rather have everyone use fiat so she can seize it in or inflate the value away in order to fund whatever he pet projects are, but some of us believe that we have the right to the products of our lives and we aren't slaves to satisfy her whines.

[Lucius]

There are only two possible reasons why she posts such nonsense, this is an incredibly stupid person with very low intelligence or she is well paid to spread the word about how BTC destroys the environment. Whatever the reason, anyone who wants to be objective can see from all available research that the total amount of electricity used by BTC amounts to barely 0.2% of total global energy consumption.

I would personally confiscate her car, calculated how much she polluted the environment during her life, how much electricity she spent watching TV, working on a computer, by using banks/ATMs and then condemning her to work for life for the common good.

[hatshepsut93]

Some nobody from Twitter makes a dumb and extreme statement - so what? Is this news-worthy today? Crypto news sites have nothing to report, so they have to grasp at straws, lol. What's next - screenshots of Bitcointalk trolls telling how Bitcoin is doomed? If this tweet was made by some world leader or at least a sitting government officials, maybe it would have been worthy reporting. But we saw Trump criticize crypto last year, and nothing came out of it, aside from Libra getting blocked.

[Thekool1s]

WTF is "work in bitcoin" suppose to mean? Is she targetting us, sig renters? Or does she means people who mine or offer services in exchange for Bitcoins? Or is she calling out Bitcoin Core devs? These snowflakes can't even write out their thoughts properly. I did a rough calculation last year from the data which is available for public... Turns out more energy gets wasted by the Americans alone than what the entire Bitcoin network uses. How about we start seizing the assets of those who waste energy?   ^{( I feel like I should make a proper thread about this and put this issue to rest once and for all )}

[NeuroticFish]

I guess that by same logic everybody who ever went to school or work by car (or non-electric bus) will have to have all his funds seized, including the historical earnings.
I almost wrote "histerical". No wonder... 

[Betwrong]

Some nobody from Twitter makes a dumb and extreme statement - so what? Is this news-worthy today? Crypto news sites have nothing to report, so they have to grasp at straws, lol. What's next - screenshots of Bitcointalk trolls telling how Bitcoin is doomed? If this tweet was made by some world leader or at least a sitting government officials, maybe it would have been worthy reporting. But we saw Trump criticize crypto last year, and nothing came out of it, aside from Libra getting blocked.

At first I wanted to disagree regarding "nobody" because I thought this article was from the USA Today online. But then I realized they were kind of impostors in a way, like abibas or reebak. Look how their twitter page looks, in comparison with what they are posing as:





I think such "news agencies" as U.Today can't be trusted, I mean, at all.

[goxed]

Define gargantuan, Power consumption equivalent to a tiny country like Switzerland is not gargantuan. Banking industry, gold mining industry are far bigger energy consumers than the Bitcoin network and mining infrastructure. We should dock her fiat salary and buy miners and solar panels with it.

[cr1776]

WTF is "work in bitcoin" suppose to mean? Is she targetting us, sig renters? Or does she means people who mine or offer services in exchange for Bitcoins? Or is she calling out Bitcoin Core devs? These snowflakes can't even write out their thoughts properly. I did a rough calculation last year from the data which is available for public... Turns out more energy gets wasted by the Americans alone than what the entire Bitcoin network uses. How about we start seizing the assets of those who waste energy?   ^{( I feel like I should make a proper thread about this and put this issue to rest once and for all )}

I think she means anyone involved in any way in bitcoin.  She seems like an authoritarian to the core who wants to control everyone else via money.

[gentlemand]

If BTC replaces a large chunk of other industries then the power consumption, while not great, is at least relatively justifiable.

As it stands, a few million people doing little more than sending back and forth to exchanges, I don't think it is.

Maybe it'll drive innovation and efficiency harder than it otherwise would've. Claiming everything's fine based purely on the current usage doesn't turn me on. Let's hope tomorrow brings more.

[NeuroticFish]

I can imagine she would say to seize all asset for people who use plastic (which made from oil/fossil fuel)

Right, that too  and don't forget the clothes made of synthetic materials    (which I can be she is also wearing!).

[stompix]

When I read that I thought it definitely must come from our beloved Greta but it seems stupidity is both contagious and evolving.
But at the same time, I find comparisons like this falling not that far away

Define gargantuan, Power consumption equivalent to a tiny country like Switzerland is not gargantuan.

Are we really going to compare and say that 9 million people traveling, working, partying and making chocolate and watches consuming the same amount of energy as 300 000 people doing a transaction a day is the same?

Although I am personally pushing for maybe a better or improved Bitcoin mining technology that can consume lesser power,

There is no such thing.
The main factor driving energy consumption up is the price.
If tomorrow bitcoin drops to 1$ and the reward will be 1800$ a day you will see a hundred people still mining with their Block Erupters.

If it goes to 1 million, expect an increase in energy consumption of 60 times because even after the halving the reward would be 900 million a day, out of which you can spend let's say 75% on energy and it will lead to some 240 billions worth of energy being used by miners.

[buwaytress]

I would seize all computers used for frivolous work, including for social media likes and rants, and use them to mine Bitcoin and provide financial independence to people all around the world. If you Tweet and cause people to spend electricity (and thefore produce carbon) to like your Tweet, you're evil and deserve to be Thunberg'd.

[gentlemand]

Are we really going to compare and say that 9 million people traveling, working, partying and making chocolate and watches consuming the same amount of energy as 300 000 people doing a transaction a day is the same?

But these figures aren't really much to do with those doing transactions. It's a few hundred or thousand miners chasing profit. Users didn't request these consumption levels though their security benefits from them.

It would be interesting to compare it to industries or companies rather than countries to see where it stands.

[stompix]

~

Users didn't request these consumption levels though their security benefits from them.

Oh, but they did!
When you want BTC to reach 20k$ prepare for the consequences

It's normal.
Do you think that people would be doing that much illegal logging if trees would fully grow in 3 months?
Do you think we would have hundreds of coal mines if seagulls would just poop coal?
Miners mine because there is $ to be earned, simple.

The reward is meant to protect the network, if the reward is big, the network would be better protected but...as I said there are consequences.

It's the same as those wishing for gold to hit 25k.
Guess what will happen to the gold mining industry!

It would be interesting to compare it to industries or companies rather than countries to see where it stands.

If someone does this, please compare something the size of bitcoin in terms of usage, not the whole banking system who is serving 3 billion people.
And if you go by the logic, yeah Bitcoin can be used by 3 billion people, when that will happen the price would probably be x1000 and we're back to square 0.1

PS.
No, I don't believe PoS is a solution and I dislike it far more than PoW

[alani123]

There's a wonderful thing promoted by the EU, called a carbon/emissions tax. Corporations are already forced to carry it when selling products that contribute to emissions.
This measure acts as a powerful counter-incentive to invest more in emission-heavy projects. The less efficient solutions are being scrapped faster due to it. So, this is already being done in the EU to big companies. You could argue that some of the largest contributors could pay more though, but it'd be hard for this cost to not reach consumers.

There are several drawbacks to this measure including that it's hard to police (see recent VW scandal) and that it also forwards many of the costs to the end of the consumption line, consumers. Also, some of the poorest parts of the population have their margins for survival pushed to become even thinner by rising prices and all the financial disincentives for using inefficient technology. But at large, the carbon tax strategy has proven to contribute positively towards its purpose.

IN my view, any attempt to apply it directly to individuals would shatter... The drive to even attempt collection this way might even cost more. And since we're talking about BTC,  really who's going to report on earnings that will result in retroactive taxation. Especially since cryptocurrency is hard to trace back to individuals...

It'd be best if miner production companies and miner importers were forced to attach an amount for tax to their sales, based on estimated consumption. This way taxation on miners could be applied pro-actively. And also, no market would be destroyed. The market would push out less efficient miners and might experience reduced growth, but at the end, that's the goal of a carbon tax.