As a crypto enthusiast, I never thought of making this comparison, but here we are doing Dogecoin vs Bitcoin in terms of energy usage. The recent tweets of Elon Musk, where he announced that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin, led me to think that it doesn’t even make sense. He also wrote that the company would be looking at alternative currencies with better, much less power consumption. And then a tweet popped up that showed the power consumption of different coins.
https://twitter.com/BurlapBrides/status/1392962399444115459
1st let’s clear the myth
2/ First, proof-of-work mining is critical to Bitcoin. In the Bitcoin network, trustworthiness is protected by computation, and mining is what gives Bitcoin its ability to coordinate trust and facilitate the transfer of value without relying on a centralized authority.
— Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) May 13, 2021
When people say that Bitcoin is bad for the environment, they actually don’t know what they are talking about. This is because the energy usage of Bitcoin comes mostly from renewable energy resources. And at the same time, that is also a small fraction of the entire energy usage and wastage of electricity globally. In fact, BTC is pushing people and companies to go green and save on mining costs.
We should also understand the fact that the energy usage of Bitcoin is also to make the network much secure and better. So, if Tesla has no problem holding on to their coins, it is a joke that they have stopped accepting BTC due to environmental concerns.
Dogecoin vs Bitcoin: Energy usage?
There was a tweet that compared the energy usage of different cryptocurrencies as compared to Bitcoin (per transaction basis). For Bitcoin, the number was 707 kilo-watts which is a lot when we compare to Dogecoin at 0.12 kilo-watts. Now, this number is concerning if we compare both things. But do consider that BTC is much much secure than that of Dogecoin. And therefore, it needs much higher energy to keep the network that way.
So, it does seem that the announcement made by Elon wasn’t to undermine BTC in particular. Its primary aim was to make a switch to Dogecoin as the cryptocurrency accepted at their stores. The individual did tweet a day back asking if people wanted Doge to be accepted at Tesla. And now, today, following the day of discarding BTC, he announced that he is trying to improve the security of Dogecoin by working with developers.
What are your thoughts on Elon Musk announcing that Tesla won’t accept BTC anymore? And do you think it was just a move to promote Dogecoin? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like it and share it with your friends.
Also Read: MicroStrategy buys Bitcoin worth $15 million in the dip
