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I think it's a pretty valid consern since Bitcoin still have a fair bit of catching up with traditional fiat currencies in term of adoption, and it already consumes the energy of a small country. Now picture what that would mean if everyone was using the network for every transaction. Again I'm far from an expert but to my ears that's a pretty big challenge.

From what I've understood about Polkadot it's quite far from a fiat as it's also a decentralized ledger, so why would that be so bad in comparison to Bitcoin?

*also you sound a bit angry, did I offend you?

Lou 2y ago

Energy is tied to human progress. Bitcoin is using the energy to secure a decentralized network for people. It doesn’t matter where that energy comes from, as long as it can power up the machines. It can be green, blue, yellow (or whatever color you like) energy. The problem is not Bitcoin, is us.

PoS takes the very thing that makes hard and decentralized money: the bridge between the physical and abstract world, energy; therefore, pretty made up money, thus easy to control.

Money can be whatever you want ; choose carefully

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Mathias 2y ago

Thanks Lou, that's a much more thoughtful answer! It's true that the energy itself can be produced in ways that involve less pollution but I guess it's still a pretty big issue for many that it's so energy inefficient. If you just look at the charts I think many are asking themselves if that amount of energy is better spent somewhere else. Especially now where the climate has been rapidly changing because of human. But then again you need to weight that against the current system of fiats...

I didn't fully understand your critic of POS but something along the lines of still being a non-tangiable system with a governance model. I think I need to read up on the core mechanics of the popular POS coins though.

Lou 2y ago

Maybe an analogy:

⚡️ If you fall from 200 feet you will break; this is proof of work. It’s tied within the physical realm through the use of electric energy; like gold is tied through physical its chemical composition.

🧠 PoS is like IMAGINING that you’re falling from 200 feet. It’s an abstraction or the individual or collective mind; and trying to get rid of that abstraction by logic (code) only, is not gonna work. It is controlled by definition, there is only the fallacy and the “decentralized” buzz word to make it feel like it. That is why we say is the fiat with different overlords (companies)

Lou 2y ago

Like gold is tied to the physical realm through its chemical composition*

Mathias 2y ago

Hmm I think I get where you're going. I've not dug enough into POS to really question that but I'm not sure I can really buy into Bitcoin being just tied to the physical realm. There's still the issue of a few owning the majority of the coins, in combination with a few being the majority minors? Meaning they pretty much control the speed of the network and the fluctuations of the market price?

I can see why POS together with some sort of abstracted democratic system would be less appealing though.