In a very well-written article by, Conio's Guido D.Assori (who signed the very first SegwitSegWit transaction), says this is a feature, not a bug.
Here is a courtesy translation of this specific part of the article, where he answers Paolo Attivissimo's accusation about bitcoin consuming all that energy to validate only 7 transactions per second.
The third attack would be that Bitcoin would moveAll this energy for 7 transactions per second and that in a nutshell for such a system even a few kilowatts now would be wasted (curious, then, that Attivissimo remembers this after accepting Bitcoin donations for years, on its blog, of this great problem).?
Quickly: this numberThe third attack would be that Bitcoin would move 7 transactions per second, unfortunately, arises from a profound misunderstanding of the real decoupling between the technological infrastructure called "blockchain" and the transfer of valuethat in a nutshell for a system of this kind even a few kilowatt hours would be wasted (curious, then, that Attivissimo remembers this after accepting Bitcoin donations for years, on his blog, of this big problem).
It is frequent, butQuickly: this does not make it any less wrongnumber unfortunately arises from a profound misunderstanding of the real decoupling between the technological infrastructure called "blockchain" and the transfer of value named in Bitcoin.
Premise: "It's a feature!"frequent, Or rather the size of the Blockchain is deliberately smallbut that doesn't make it any less wrong.
Being able to write onPremise: "It's a blockchain must be a luxuryfeature!", so that it remains decentralized, so that everyone, at any time and with a relatively low effort, can independently verifyi.e. the correctnesssize of transactions on the network, and not just the large banking institutionsBlockchain is deliberately small.
HoweverBeing able to write on a blockchain must be a luxury, nowadaysin order for it to remain decentralized, at every moment of the day, Bitcoins, or contractsso that are related to their valueeveryone, are brokeredat any time and traded on cryptocurrency exchangeswith relatively little effort, on custodial platforms, by meanscan autonomously verify the correctness of pegged tokens,transactions on sidechainsthe network, on Lighting Networks, by means of CFDsand not just the large banking institutions. , with various levels of enforcement.
And this happens through a number of transactions that are much more than 7 per secondHowever, believe me! Claiming the opposite would be like expecting our morning coffee paid fornow at every moment of the bar to be recordedday, on cryptocurrency exchanges, on custodial platforms, by all the backupsmeans of all the nodespegged tokens, on sidechains, on Lighting Network, by means of all the Eurozone interbank circuitsCFDs, Bitcoins are intermediated and exchanged, or contracts that are traced back to their value , with varying degrees of enforcement.
And this happens through a number of transactions that are much more than 7 per second, believe me! To expect the opposite would be like demanding that our morning coffee paid for at the bar be recorded by all the backups of all the nodes of all the interbank circuits in the Eurozone.
So how many transactions, really?
In general, it is a non-measurablean unmeasurable number, and it will be less and less, the estimates will be more and more heuristic, also thanks to privacy -preserving platforms.
We can say, to give amake the general idea, that every transaction that takes place on an order bookorderbook of any platform, which represents Bitcoin, can only exist thanks to the fact that, underneath, there is the Proof Of Work which, whenif necessary, allows the settlement of a precise state of a chain of transactions of indefinite length (my token goes to you, you givewho gives it to him, you givewho gives it to the other, who breaks it in three and gives it to the other, who collects 8 ). ArenDon't you going to expect all the coins you exchange to end up writtennoted down somewhere?
Quite simplySimply, people every day rely on intermediaries every day to exchange Bitcoin value in Bitcoin without using a blockchain directly.
The global concept of decentralization is maintained, relocation is increasedincreases with confidence inon the last mile (not always! LN!) Butbut the connectionconnecting element always remains the last, only, true, mandatory, a digital ledger in which the compensation movements.
ComparingTherefore, therefore,comparing the phantomimaginary 7 transactions (which is a number that was good in 2013, today there are many more even on-chain) to the world's ability to transact Bitcoin, and tielinking it to the PoW, is a bit like expectingpretending that there are, at all times, a sufficient quantitynumber of vansarmored cars to move all the gold in all the vaults of the world that intend to exchange gold.
Of course, that's not how it works.
Bitcoin is not a payment system, but a settlement system. Therefore, the comparison should not be made with payment circuits (Credit Cardscredit cards), but with the various settlement layers (SWIFT, CHIPS, FedWire ) o or Fedwire.
On this particular aspect, please consider reading A Closer Look at the Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin is a settlement system, not a payments aggregator
First things first. What is Bitcoin, and what is it not?
Bitcoin is a settlement system like FedWire. It is not a payments aggregator like Visa. I constantly see Bitcoin compared to Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal. This is the primary source of mathematical atrocities whereby Bitcoin's overall electricity cost is divided by its transactions and then compared to something it's not. Energy use per settlement transaction is a nonsensical metric by which to judge Bitcoin's energy use.
Just like the 800,000 or so daily FedWire transactions are not a good measure of the total amount of daily Dollar (USD) transactions, Bitcoin's 325,000 or so daily transactions are not a good measure of the total amount of daily bitcoin (BTC/XBT) transactions. This is because most bitcoin transactions are not visible. They take place inside the payment aggregation systems of exchanges, on the Lightning network, and yes, even inside of actual aggregators like PayPal, Square, or MasterCard. Only periodically are they settled onto the Bitcoin blockchain as visible transactions.
Solutions like this are referred to as network layering. This is a tried and tested approach to separating casual retail transactions from heavier settlement transactions, and it is precisely how we already do things in the fiat monetary and payment systems. In such a system, the base layer, like FedWire (or Bitcoin), only acts as the final arbitrator of settlement transactions. Everything else, which is the vast majority of all transactions, happens in higher payment aggregation layers, which are often entirely different systems.
In other words, Bitcoin is not a competitor to Visa, MasterCard or Paypal. Instead, Bitcoin is an independent monetary system that aggregators can make use of.
Presenting Bitcoin's electricity consumption in terms of its daily number of settlement transactions is a red herring.