Because it’s enormous? A colleague just finished putting together a 125MW BTC mining operation. That’s sheer insanity. Nobody has ever been able to explain how Bitcoin saves the world from climate catastrophe by using 0.3% of all electricity.
> Nobody has ever been able to explain how Bitcoin saves the world from climate catastrophe by using 0.3% of all electricity.
Why would you think that Bitcoin needs to accomplish that particular task? As far as I know ending climate change has never been mentioned as a goal or desirable outcome of the project.
The maintainers of Bitcoin could make changes to the mining protocol that reduce its reliance on energy. By choosing to not do so, they are directly contributing - in a substantial way - to civilization-ending climate catastrophe. I do think that Bitcoin's maintainers have an obligation to do their part, considering that they are very materially a part of the problem.
Ethereum is at least working hard on other algorithms that are energy efficient. But in the Bitcoin space, the tremendous investment in energy-intensive mining equipment means that the entrenched players have an interest in persisting the way that things currently work, rather than seeking an energy conserving replacement.
