Bitcoin Mining, Using 16 Basis Points of Energy on the Planet Earth

Most people think of bitcoin primarily as a form of money or store of value, but in this episode Darrin Feinstein argues that it also represents history’s most important accounting innovation. He explains why, as the world’s first incorruptible ledger, bitcoin allows us to remove fraud from the realm of accounting, and bring about a shift from “double-entry” to “triple-entry” bookkeeping. Darin and Saifedean discuss how the global accounting industry might differ in a world where bitcoin is used as the primary from of money, and why the transparency of bitcoin’s ledger makes it a poor tool for criminals. As Chairman of Core Scientific, one of the world’s largest bitcoin mining companies, Darin also discusses some popular misconceptions regarding bitcoin’s energy usage and environmental impact.

Resources

• Darin on Twitter
• Darin thread on bitcoin as an accounting innovation
• Core Scientific official website
• World Economic Forum article “In 2020 Bitcoin will consume more power than the world does today” and Newsweek article “Bitcoin Mining on Track to Consume All of the World’s Energy by 2020”, both published in 2017
• Bitcoin Net Zero paper by Nic Carter and Ross Stevens. See page 38 for comparison of bitcoin network versus tumble driers
• Darin recommended account Burn the Bridge on Twitter
• Saifedean’s first book, The Bitcoin Standard
• Saifedean’s second book, The Fiat Standard