from Hacker News

Banking system consumes two times more energy than Bitcoin: Research

by jernejzen on 5/18/21, 3:01 AM with 8 comments

  • by dado3212 on 5/18/21, 4:17 AM

    Assuming all the underlying assumptions are correct, isn’t this still comparing apples to oranges? Bitcoin does around 250k transactions per day [1] compared to credit cards doing ~1 billion [2]. And Bitcoin will only get less efficient.

    [1]. https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_transactions_per_day [2]. https://www.cardrates.com/advice/number-of-credit-card-trans...

  • by CynicusRex on 5/18/21, 5:06 AM

    Although the banking system is rife with flaws as well, it does all the worlds transactions and isn't an inherent pyramid Ponzi scheme.

  • by timoth3y on 5/18/21, 4:24 AM

    This is really comparing apples to apple carts.

    The "research" narrowly defines Bitcoin energy consumption to include mining and node operation, but broadly defines banking industry energy usage to include even things like branch offices and ATMs.

    A surprised Pikachu gif should really accompany their conclusion that the global financial industry consumes more energy the bitcoin mining and nodes.