> However, if the ultimate utility of Bitcoin is to store trillions of dollars of value, [...] then energy-per-transaction is an inappropriate metric.
The amount of energy used in equilibrium in Bitcoin mining is proportional to the price of Bitcoin (between halvings and holding the fraction of total mining costs spent on energy constant). If the price of Bitcoin rose enough that it had a 2TN market cap tomorrow, miners would have incentives to burn 3-4x more energy.
I agree that transaction-based accounting is flawed, but it doesn’t make the problem go away.
The amount of energy used in equilibrium in Bitcoin mining is proportional to the price of Bitcoin (between halvings and holding the fraction of total mining costs spent on energy constant). If the price of Bitcoin rose enough that it had a 2TN market cap tomorrow, miners would have incentives to burn 3-4x more energy.
I agree that transaction-based accounting is flawed, but it doesn’t make the problem go away.