And also on substitutes by governments etc. hashrate ultimatly reflects that the market is willing to invest energy in mining.
nostr:npub1s05p3ha7en49dv8429tkk07nnfa9pcwczkf5x5qrdraqshxdje9sq6eyhe, would pricing #Bitcoin by the average energy cost to mine new bitcoins each block give us a clearer signal than pricing it in dollars?
But, maybe total hash rate is a more straight forward metric since the energy cost for a certain hash rate varies over time and between hardware.
Discussion
Not sure that I understand "...substitutes by governments...".
Energy prices are not always necessarily free market prices. Governments might pay for "green" energy sources if that's their policy so this type of energy is cheaper than it would be otherwise, or other countries might do the same with other sources of energy. So energy costs different prices in different locations. Hypothetically energy could be provided "free" (paid by the state with taxpayer money), then Bitcoin would be worth nothing because energy costs nothing or made infinitely expensive by blocking certain sources of energy. So the real price of energy to generate Bitcoin is distorted.
Hashrate is pure signal that shows that people value mining Bitcoin more than what else could be done with the energy.
Right.
Now, I understand your point.
What I meant by energy cost was to price Bitcoin in watt-hour (actual physical energy) not the dollar cost of energy.