Team Proof-of-Work Educates Lawmakers at Bitcoin Mining Hearing in US
Questions ranged from whether Bitcoin (BTC) could potentially transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, to whether crypto mining can be considered “wasteful,” as lawmakers in the US House of Representatives discussed the energy impact of crypto mining during a hearing on Thursday.
Among the issues discussed, and where witnesses disagreed with each other, was the issue of whether proof-of-work (PoW) as a consensus mechanism for blockchains can be considered wasteful.
According to Cornell Tech Professor and Chainlink Labs (Chainlink is using PoS) Chief Scientist Ari Juels, proof-of-work blockchains are an “unnecessary” use of energy, given that proof-of-stake exists as “a perfectly viable alternative.”
However, according to Brian Brooks, CEO of the blockchain infrastructure provider Bitfury and a former Comptroller of the Currency, crypto mining does not fit the definition of waste in its most basic sense.
“The measure of waste in an economic activity is whether the activity is producing value that other people are willing to pay for,” Brooks said. He added that bitcoin, as the most valuable cryptocurrency, is therefore “clearly not wasted, it’s an asset that large numbers of people are willing to pay for.”
Moreover, he explained that while proof-of-stake is “a valuable innovation,” the two systems serve different purposes in the crypto ecosystem, with only proof-of-work being able to offer what he called “a truly trustless system.”
“Proof-of-stake has at its core a dependence of trust of who the stakeholders are,” Brooks said.
“Decentralization is what crypto is all about, and Bitcoin was the original and most decentralized of all of the blockchains […] It’s not just about replacing forms of money in financial
Read more on cryptonews.com
