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Bitcoin miners win legal battle to keep mum about energy use [US] (www.theverge.com)

submitted 8 months ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] glowie@h4x0r.host -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You have zero power as a citizen over the currency you use. You do not directly vote for the Central bankers, Federal Reserve board, etc. Even the politicians you might vote for who appoint them will almost always side in their own favor than their constituents. I'd hardly believe a word a politician ever utters. Just look at all the lies and false promising during the campaigns of the last 5 presidents and what they actually accomplished. Biden and college debt as a more recent example.

You are also confusing Bitcoin's Proof of Work with a shitcoin's Proof of Stake, which is where wealth gives you more votes. As for the hash rate you're contributing as a miner, there's no additional power you're given. Even if you attempted to 51% attack the network, it'd be gaining nothing beyond a double-spend by rewriting the blockchain transaction. Likely causing the currency's price to crash. Zero financial incentives for any rich people to do that, unless they're part of a nation-state hoping to try and destroy the currency.

[–] ammonium@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You have zero power as a citizen over the currency you use. You do not directly vote for the Central bankers, Federal Reserve board, etc. Even the politicians you might vote for who appoint them will almost always side in their own favor than their constituents.

I didn't say it's perfect, but it's not zero power.

You are also confusing Bitcoin’s Proof of Work with a shitcoin’s Proof of Stake, which is where wealth gives you more votes.

Proof of stake is arguably even worse, but the energy required for proof of work isn't free either (and that's by design, if it was free Bitcoin wouldn't work).

As for the hash rate you’re contributing as a miner, there’s no additional power you’re given. Even if you attempted to 51% attack the network, it’d be gaining nothing beyond a double-spend by rewriting the blockchain transaction.

There is more than double spending. Who decides how Bitcoin evolves? When new features are added, hard forks, etc. How much power do you have over that?

https://www.bitcoin.com/get-started/what-is-bitcoin-governance/#what-is-a-bitcoin-hard-fork

How ever you turn it, at best it's a shitty version of democracy.

Fundamentally money is all about trust, and I, despite all it's flaws trust my government much more than a random group of developers and miners.