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Mayor wants to make Vancouver Bitcoin central — climate experts disagree (www.nationalobserver.com)

submitted 1 week ago by streetfestival@lemmy.ca to c/britishcolumbia@lemmy.ca

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Sim is a crypto proselytizer. Last week, he preached in a video interview for the Coin Stories podcast that he believes Bitcoin "is the greatest invention in human history."

His proposal would order city staff to assess the feasibility of making Vancouver "Bitcoin-friendly," for instance, by accepting payments in Bitcoin and investing some of the municipality's financial reserves into the cryptocurrency.

Sim's motion, which will go to a vote on Wednesday, claims that "Bitcoin mining has shown environmental benefits" that are realized when mines use electricity that would otherwise be wasted. The motion did not cite sources and the mayor's office did not provide any to Canada's National Observer when requested.

Fellow council members aren’t buying it.

Researchers estimate that each Bitcoin transaction generates as much carbon emissions as driving a gas-powered car around 2,200 km. Between 2020 and 2021 alone, U.N. researchers estimated that if Bitcoin mining were a country, it would rank 27th in the world in energy use. The sector's electricity demand is so high that B.C. has temporarily banned crypto mining until officials can figure out if the province has enough power.

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[–] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 13 points 6 days ago

Ken, you ran on law and order and cleaning up all the theft and random violence in the city! You’ve failed to do anything except share thoughts and prayers and point the finger at Ottawa and Victoria. You’re literally having the same effect as your predecessors who you called ineffective and soft on crime!

Maybe focus on that instead of promoting crypto like some right wing grifter.

You should have time to solve this easy issue you campaigned on. You even built a private gym for yourself in city hall to improve your effectiveness. Let’s see some effectiveness!

[–] CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago

well, it worked so well for El Salvador... :p

[–] villasv@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 days ago

It saddens me to no end to see one of the House of Funk guys advocating for this shit with city council

[–] Pistcow@lemm.ee 27 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Such a fucking waste of resources. Anyone that has this way of thinking should he shot of in a rocket into the sun.

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Guarantee he's holding a lot of btc and just wants to see the line go up.

[–] Pistcow@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago

But 1 rocket with all the bitcoin bros is a net positive.

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 3 points 6 days ago

Shooting a rocket into the sun would also be a waste of energy.

[–] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How the hell is btc humanity's best invention lmao. Do these guys not know Keynesian economics? Do they not know why countries dropped usage of commodity currencies? We literally learned about this in the macroecon credit back in high school. Are these guys not high school graduates???

Ok fine, you're a right wing libertarian and you love cryptocurrencies. BTC isn't even the best cryptocurrency for fucks sake... If you want untraceable transactions, you want Monero. I don't see many techbros hyping up Monero either.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Church of Scientology has a big stake in BTC and North Korea uses it to bypass sanctions

If you’re against bitcoin then you’re against North Korea and Scientology

[–] yuri@pawb.social 2 points 5 days ago

hear hear!

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip -4 points 6 days ago

I hype Monero!