[NetBehaviour] blockchain electrical consumption?

[Mustafa Al-Bassam]

It is easy to not for westerners who live in stable economies to not see
the social benefits of cryptocurrency. But for economies strife with
corruption and hyperinflation, the need for censorship-resistant money
(cryptocurrency) is obvious, as is the need for censorship-resistant
speech. In Venezuela, some people have no choice but to use
cryptocurrency to merely survive and afford basic things
(https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/bitcoin-mining-is-popular-in-venezuela-because-of-hyperinflation.html).
Let's not forget that Bitcoin was first popularised when WikiLeaks used
it to overcome its banking blockade that prevented it from accepting
donations.

The original adopters of cryptocurrency are cypherpunks - Satoshi
invented Bitcoin partly as a way to overcome the problem of monopolistic
banks that are 'too big to fail' (leading to the 2008 of bailout). Do
not get confused: people who actually need cryptocurrency because of
corruption, hyperinflation or capitalistic monopolies (i.e. Western
Union) couldn't care less the 'blockchain' and 'ICO' hype that is being
taken advantage of by people trying to jump on the bandwagon.

On 06/11/17 11:08, helen varley jamieson wrote:
>
> looking at the environmental impact of it all is really important,
> because huge amounts of resources are being devoted to something that
> - as far as i can see - serves very little actual purpose. with the
> exception of projects like julian's, the focus seems to be
> predominantly on personal wealth gain & speculation & any supposed
> social benefits of the technology are just a way to justify it. 
>