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diff --git a/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md b/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md index daf6566..fa3748b 100644 --- a/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md +++ b/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md @@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ title: "Avoid Using Cryptocurrency" date: 2021-07-18T00:00:00 draft: false -makerefs: false --- # Cryptocurrency's Unreasonably High Energy Consumption The criticisms I'm about to levy do not apply to every cryptocurrency. I'm only criticizing the cryptocurrencies that involve high energy usage per transaction. Proof of X based cryptocurrencies where X is work, storage or some other energy-intensive process fall into this category. But I'm mostly referring to proof of work. I'm excluding proof of stake cryptocurrencies because proof of stake does not cause considerable energy usage per transaction. I'm still including non-blockchain cryptocurrencies that employ proof of work and use a high amount of energy per transaction. From now on I'll use the word "cryptocurrency" to mean only those in that high energy consumption group without further explanation. @@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ With that said, cryptocurrency is the only way to transact online in a truly ano You could try using only proof of stake cryptos. But, for the most part, those aren't accepted as payment and how are you going to acquire them to begin with? Most of the time you have to exchange a high energy consumption coin like Bitcoin for a low energy consumption crypto which defeats the purpose. Besides, proof of stake cryptos aren't even private. So there's already one major benefit of using crypto gone. The market for green cryptos just isn't there yet. ## Freedom and Privacy Versus Energy Consumption -We seem to have hit a "hard conflict" as I would put it in my post about Integrated Activism[1]. I recommend reading that as it may help understand where I'm coming from in this post. Anyway, I'll borrow a quote from that post here: +We seem to have hit a "hard conflict" as I would put it in my post about [Integrated Activism](/2021/06/30/integrated-activism/). I recommend reading that as it may help understand where I'm coming from in this post. Anyway, I'll borrow a quote from that post here: > "...you are going to run into situations where two or more social issues are in a "hard conflict" and there's no easy way to respect them all. What you have to do in situations like those is to figure out your priorities." - Me, Integrated Activism @@ -64,14 +63,14 @@ In this case, the social issues at conflict are privacy and freedom versus energ Well unless you've been living under a rock for the past 30 years, you know that climate change poses an existential threat to life on earth. In order to avoid climate mayhem, we need to cut down our energy consumption. Avoiding using cryptocurrency is a good way to do that. So I recommend you avoid using cryptocurrency wherever possible. But I'd like to break it down a bit more than that. ## Small Website Owners -Small website owners specifically should not accept cryptocurrency donations from high energy consumption currencies. This is why I've removed my crypto donation addresses from the about page[2] of this blog. I feel that I can no longer justify including them on my blog with the extreme energy consumption they use. Including them in the first place was a mistake. Small website owners like myself are also unlikely to receive sizable donations. So, in practice, it doesn't make much of a difference choosing not to accept crypto donations. +Small website owners specifically should not accept cryptocurrency donations from high energy consumption currencies. This is why I've removed my crypto donation addresses from the [about page](/about/) of this blog. I feel that I can no longer justify including them on my blog with the extreme energy consumption they use. Including them in the first place was a mistake. Small website owners like myself are also unlikely to receive sizable donations. So, in practice, it doesn't make much of a difference choosing not to accept crypto donations. I still accept donations via Liberapay. I will start accepting crypto donations again only for Ethereum after it switches fully to proof of stake. It'll be popular enough that someone looking at my website might have Ethereum they want to donate and it'll be fully independent of extreme energy consumption coins. Therefore I see no reason not to accept it in the future. I encourage all small website owners to follow in my footsteps and reject cryptocurrency donations until Ethereum switches to proof of stake, and then accept only Ethereum until more popular coins make the switch. I expect Ethereum to make the transition within a year, so I shouldn't be without crypto donation options for long. It's not worth it to list all the other relatively unknown proof of stake cryptocurrencies out there on my blog. I probably won't get any donations from them anyways and it's extra work. ### Landchad.net -I am disappointed to see Luke Smith's landchad website[3] promoting cryptocurrency to small website owners. I support the goals of the website in getting more people an online existence independent of social media, but Luke should at least mention the caveat of extreme energy consumption in the crypto article. Either that or outright take down the posts about accepting cryptocurrency. I plan on contacting him about this after publishing this post. +I am disappointed to see [Luke Smith's landchad website](https://landchad.net/monero/) promoting cryptocurrency to small website owners. I support the goals of the website in getting more people an online existence independent of social media, but Luke should at least mention the caveat of extreme energy consumption in the crypto article. Either that or outright take down the posts about accepting cryptocurrency. I plan on contacting him about this after publishing this post. As I mentioned in my post on Integrated Activism, I have observed the cryptocurrency space largely ignoring the effects that crypto has on energy consumption, instead focusing only on privacy and freedom. In that post, I referred to this myopic focus to the detriment of other important social causes as "tunnel vision". Landchad.net is also guilty of this. It makes no mention of energy consumption at all. The crypto community needs to do better for environmentalists. @@ -88,9 +87,3 @@ So that's the best argument I have for why you should avoid using cryptocurrency The very first thing environmentalists bring up when I mention cryptocurrency is the energy consumption. They are much happier to criticize it than crypto enthusiasts which makes sense. Most of them don't have a stake in it at all. They don't use it for anything. As someone who cares deeply about the environment and economic privacy and freedom, I believe I've struck a reasonable compromise by recommending avoiding cryptocurrency as much as possible right now. As much as I love crypto, I can't deny that it's having a disastrous environmental impact. Us crypto geeks need to think more carefully about how it affects the environment rather than recklessly promoting it everywhere we can. The future is not bleak though. The 2nd most popular cryptocurrency plans on switching to proof of stake soon. The technologies are improving all the time. I hope more cryptos will follow Ethereum's example switching to proof of stake, especially Monero. The technology is there. Just wait a little longer until there are more energy efficient cryptocurrencies in popular usage. Then you can start participating and feel good for being environmentally conscious too. - - -Link(s): -[1: Integrated Activism](/2021/06/30/integrated-activism/) -[2: About page](/about/) -[3: landchad.net](https://landchad.net/monero/) |