I’m not entirely convinced that Bitcoin is much different than Monopoly money, but some people seem to take it seriously. To paraphrase the Jefferson Starship song “Devil’s Den,” “You know it’s worthless bytes you can spend or save / Go ahead and count that by yourself.” Regardless, this Harvard Gazette article provide a decently accessible overview of cryptocurrencies.
I would personally be indifferent to these electronic Ponzi schemes, except for the energy they require. Bitcoin alone requires 110 Terawatt Hours of electricity annually, or approximately the electricity used by Sweden in a given year. Using the ethics-challenged logic that dominates B Schools, a Harvard Business Review article asks, “But how much energy should a monetary system consume?” [italics in original]
Gee, I would think the answer would be 0 kWh. Or, looking at it another way, I would think that 110 tWh would print a lot of Franklins—or Tubmans.