The guy doesn't grasp the basic premise of PoW schemes. Yes, it costs close to a Bitcoin to make a Bitcoin. That Bitcoin, once created, is a REUSABLE PROOF OF WORK.
The real question is: how much does it really cost to clear a transaction? And how much of that cost is being hidden via being subsidized through a speculative mining frenzy? What happens to real-world TX costs when mining isn't a hot thing anymore?
The real question is: how much does it really cost to clear a transaction?
Anywhere from a fraction of a cent to millions of dollars. Bitcoin transactions don't have a fixed cost, it depends on how many people are mining. More miners => increased difficult => higher costs.
Comments
The guy doesn't grasp the basic premise of PoW schemes. Yes, it costs close to a Bitcoin to make a Bitcoin. That Bitcoin, once created, is a REUSABLE PROOF OF WORK.
The real question is: how much does it really cost to clear a transaction? And how much of that cost is being hidden via being subsidized through a speculative mining frenzy? What happens to real-world TX costs when mining isn't a hot thing anymore?
The real question is: how much does it really cost to clear a transaction?
Anywhere from a fraction of a cent to millions of dollars. Bitcoin transactions don't have a fixed cost, it depends on how many people are mining. More miners => increased difficult => higher costs.
There is an intrinsic cost associated with hashing and rehashing the blockchain to secure the transaction. In terms of cpu time, electricity, etc.
Yes, but if there were no more miners, you could process all transactions on a single cheap laptop, which probably costs less than $1/day to run.
So, what happens when they hit 21m bitcoin and mining no longer offers a reward?
Everybody sells their now-worthless miners for scrap and the difficulty falls to a reasonable level.
how much does it really cost to clear a transaction?
One way to look at that is (25 BTC / block) / (# of transactions / block). About 60 mBTC/transaction given https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions-per-block
Fortunately the transaction itself does not have to pay for its own processing.