Would be interested to hear what the point of view is on a recent increase in press statements as follows: ‘Bitcoin may soon consume more power than Australia’— almost 10 times more than Google, Microsoft and Facebook combined.
Is there anything behind this or is it just another angle of attack against bitcoin prompted by remarks by Bill Gates?.....is it even possible to calculate consumption in this way?
Bitcoin's energy consumption is rather easy to model. It will always tend towards an equilibrium defined by:
bitcoins generated TIMES price per bitcoin EQUALS energy units consumed by bitcoin TIMES price per energy unit
As long as the left side in lower than the right side, mining becomes unprofitable and will be reduced. As long as the left side is higher than the right side, it's profitable to use even more energy for mining.
Do that with Australia, Google, Microsoft or Facebook. It's not as transparent and to some extent, you have to trust the numbers they publish.