Since it's not physical like gold or silver you don't need mining equipment, you should just be able to create infinite copies. So why does bitcoin need to be "mined" and why would mining it cost so much energy?
Since it's not physical like gold or silver you don't need mining equipment, you should just be able to create infinite copies. So why does bitcoin need to be "mined" and why would mining it cost so much energy?
I'll take both
Real answer: the proof of work is required, because that means you have to control over half of the network's computing power in order to spoof any transactions. It basically ensures that the people participating are disincentivized from creating fake transactions, because if you're paying the money to provide the computing power, you'll lose it by spoofing transactions and fucking with the trust in the system. It's not impossible, just from a game theory perspective illogical.
It's actually not a terrible idea for a world in which global warming doesn’t exist, but well...
As for the meme response: it's because suffering is the only way to provide value in a capitalist system
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