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Bitcoin Does Uses Up More Power Than A Nation

Bitcoin Does Uses Up More Power Than A Nation

The world can’t get enough of bitcoins. Its popularity has soared this past year alongside its value. You may have wondered what bitcoin was back then but not anymore. People who were utterly clueless about it knows more about bitcoins now and many are even encouraged to invest in it. It really is a rewarding investment for those brave enough to put their money in it but it apparently has its drawbacks. Considering there is no centralized authority that oversees bitcoin transactions as a whole unlike traditional currencies the world over, miners or people who verify all bitcoin transactions make use of specialized PCs that solve bitcoin-related problems that mainly protects this industry from fraud.

And seeing how in-demand bitcoins are these days and the rapid rise of bitcoin prices, it will require even more power to manage all these transactions but despite being so complex and energy-consuming, it is highly financially-rewarding on the part of the miners as they earn more as bitcoin prices go up and more transactions need to be verified each day. There are risks, though, knowing how financially unstable this market is because bitcoin value may be at $10,000 now but it can easily fall down in an instant. It is a risk that you have to decide whether it is worth taking or not.

Bitcoin’s “mining” network uses more electricity in a year than the whole of Ireland, according to statistics released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time.

According to Digiconomist the estimated power use of the bitcoin network, which is responsible for verifying transactions made with the cryptocurrency, is 30.14TWh a year, which exceeds that of 19 other European countries. At a continual power drain of 3.4GW, it means the network consumes five times more electricity than is produced by the largest wind farm in Europe, the London Array in the outer Thames Estuary, at 630MW.

At those levels of electricity consumption, each individual bitcoin transaction uses almost 300KWh of electricity – enough to boil around 36,000 kettles full of water. Although power consumption of other payment networks is harder to isolate, one of Visa’s two US data centres reportedly runs on about 2% of the power required by bitcoin. 

(Via: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/27/bitcoin-mining-consumes-electricity-ireland)

Now and then there are trends that take the world by storm. Some may be completely new and unheard of we feel scared to give it a try but at times there are those that stand out and prove they are worth your time, attention, and money. Bitcoins started out like that. Many are actually surprised to find out that this cryptocurrency has been around for quite some time already albeit did not experience such a phenomenal response and success. But as it blows up today, it has irreversible effects on the environment too, first of which is because of its unfathomable demand for energy.

The massive computer network behind bitcoin uses quite a bit of energy – as much as Serbia, to be exact.

A recent report by Accounts & Legal said the aggregate computing power of the bitcoin network is nearly 100,000 times larger than the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers combined, and miners are constantly installing upgrades to make their computers faster.

Digiconomist has created a bitcoin energy consumption index in order to understand how much electricity is consumed by the cryptocurrency. As of 5 December, bitcoin’s estimated annual electricity consumption was 31.96 terawatt hours (TWh), or 0.14 per cent of the world’s total electricity consumption. That’s about the same as Serbia and more than Morocco, Oman and the Slovak Republic. Annualised estimated global mining costs were $1.6bn (£1.2bn), while annualised global mining revenues were $10.2bn. The index says 250 kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity are consumed per transaction.

(Via: http://www.cityam.com/277040/bitcoin-mining-explained-does-work-why-does-use-so-much)

Bitcoin may be selling like hot pancakes now and people are enjoying the rewards of their investments but it is not doing any good for the environment given how much energy it needs in order to work. Saying that this system is inefficient is quite an understatement really. Hopefully, there will be certain upgrades that are directed to addressing these power issues while at the same time allowing for continuous and efficient bitcoin mining if it still is a thing of the coming years. One of the first issues that must be addressed is the fact that bitcoins and every other digital currency are decentralized. It’s also the reason why cybercriminals nowadays prefer ransom payment in form of bitcoins, for instance, because they can’t be traced as they don’t need to go to a bank to have it encashed or something. Let’s see in the next few years how the bitcoin technology has evolved and whether it will still use up that much energy in the process or will the responsible individuals of today will be able to come up with a solution that will benefit all.

Now, imagine all those countless computers mining and solving mathematical problems in order to form new blockchains through each verified bitcoin transactions. Computers are wonderful but they can be a big headache too once you encounter technical difficulties like hard drive issues. Imagine realizing your hard drive is broken or you hear clicking noises and you don’t know what to do. It’s easy. Check https://www.harddrivefailurerecovery.net/is-your-hard-drive-making-a-clicking-noise/ for a better understanding of common hard drive issues but be prepared to fork out some money though if troubleshooting it on your own does not work because you may need professional help which is often costly. To ensure you don’t get ripped off of your hard-earned money, https://www.harddrivefailurerecovery.net/how-flat-rate-data-recovery-pricing-works/ may give you an idea of data recovery prices and save your wallet too from getting bankrupt.