Read on Twitter
a thread about the ecological cost of crypto. I get a lot of questions about it and it's something I've held off on addressing until I have the words to say ↓
Currently crypto is incredibly inefficient and the electricity + monetary cost of doing anything is unsustainable. If the ecological cost of NFTs is a dealbreaker, I completely understand.
if I was only dipping my toes into crypto now, it would give me pause as well
if I was only dipping my toes into crypto now, it would give me pause as well
This will not be the case in the long run. Ethereum 2.0 is currently being rolled out and is slated to finish in about a year—it moves from the proof of work system (awful) to something that is much more power efficient.
We are in the very early stages of the crypto ecosystem
We are in the very early stages of the crypto ecosystem
The first prototypes of the Internet were made in the 60s but it didn't reach widespread adoption until the 90s. Things feel very rough around the edges in crypto, and it will for a long time. NFTs are in the dialup stage.
But you should give it a try and see if it works for the things you're trying to build, the dreams you're only starting to envision. We have the chance to build the internet again, and to build it right: a system where creators come first and they get paid
The only reason we can have this conversation is because the power cost of crypto is completely transparent. Other emerging technologies have similar issues that aren't well known. Timnit Gebru wrote a paper about the eco-costs of training AI models, it got her fired from Google
It is scary when you think about it, but I think it makes a huge difference that we, as a community, know how much it costs and can take steps to donate carbon offsets and create features that reduce the amount of transacting power, period. We're all in it together.
