for a long time i didn't get why bitcoin needs all that energy. it just looked like waste to me
what changed it for me was thinking about what the blockchain actually is. it's a record of what happened. who sent what to whom
and any record like that has the same weakness. whoever holds it can change it. banks fix their databases all the time. usually for good reasons, sometimes not. you just have to trust them
bitcoin doesn't have anyone holding the record. so how do you stop people from rewriting it?
you make rewriting it cost a ridiculous amount of energy
every block takes real work to produce, and each one sits on top of the one before. if you wanted to change something from last week, you'd have to redo a week's worth of the whole network's work, and do it faster than everyone else is moving forward. not happening
so the energy isn't really being wasted. it's what makes the history stick. it's kind of the ink the whole thing is written in
that's when it made sense to me. the point isn't the energy. the point is a past nobody can quietly edit
LordFestival / Lord Festival
npub1x6…hl9wc
2026-10-23 08:16:40 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1x6mwa3y20xlwndr332umhez2xkglc5k35n42rsqz2e5upf40k0gq8hl9wcPublished at
2026-10-23 08:16:40 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "for a long time i didn't get why bitcoin needs all that energy. it just looked like waste to me\n\nwhat changed it for me was thinking about what the blockchain actually is. it's a record of what happened. who sent what to whom\n\nand any record like that has the same weakness. whoever holds it can change it. banks fix their databases all the time. usually for good reasons, sometimes not. you just have to trust them\n\nbitcoin doesn't have anyone holding the record. so how do you stop people from rewriting it?\n\nyou make rewriting it cost a ridiculous amount of energy\n\nevery block takes real work to produce, and each one sits on top of the one before. if you wanted to change something from last week, you'd have to redo a week's worth of the whole network's work, and do it faster than everyone else is moving forward. not happening\n\nso the energy isn't really being wasted. it's what makes the history stick. it's kind of the ink the whole thing is written in\n\nthat's when it made sense to me. the point isn't the energy. the point is a past nobody can quietly edit",
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