Matthieu Riou

Founder @blockcypher. Founded @mmztweet. Unreasonable love for double ristretto and coding.

[Steve Stewart-Williams @SteveStuWill]

Narcissism is one of the best predictors of belief in conspiracy theories. There are various possible reasons for this, including narcissists’ need for uniqueness, need for control/dominance, paranoia, and gullibility. https://t.co/GZ3fjsfrGR

[Julian Gough @juliangough]

And here’s the first tweet, if you want to retweet this thread. Thanks for reading this far! And happy new year...

https://t.co/b1jSKLCrDW

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@assaf Trumpet Winsock, such a great name.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@jcrben @pwnallthethings @wwwojtekk I'm fairly confident cryptomining emissions will become less of a problem, especially in a time horizon of a decade, due to renewable price pressure and proof-of-stake. Again if your concern is global warming, there are fruits that are much lower and bigger in that tree.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@jcrben @pwnallthethings @wwwojtekk The gnat argument was more with respect to global CO2e emissions rather than energy consumption. I don't see consumption as an issue as such, as long as we don't emit. We will need a lot more emission-free production to power developing countries.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@jcrben @pwnallthethings @wwwojtekk I guess we can agree to disagree on the intrinsic usefulness of crypto. But kudos to you as well for some thoughtful arguments and we all definitely need to push toward a zero net CO2e world. There's definitely a lot to agree on to get there.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@jcrben @pwnallthethings @wwwojtekk Thode are all complicated problems in which cryptomining is just a nat. The human energy would be better spent advocating for rational solutions to global warming instead of scapegoating something that doesn't matter very much.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@jcrben @pwnallthethings @wwwojtekk Second, production of hydrogen without co2 is still not economical. We'll need some sort of breakthrough to make that viable (which would be awesome btw).

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@bigmarh Has the secret pond been dramatically expanded?

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@nbsharma @ricburton @jillruthcarlson Not positive but looks like Point Montara lighthouse

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@TonyBurnetti @elonmusk It secures the bitcoin blockchain? Or are you arguing for proof-of-stake?

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

Thoughts on the bitcoin and crypto mining confusion, a thread. TL;DR:
1. energy isn't scarce
2. the way we live is energy inefficient
3. mining is not
4. mining is very competitive
5. making renewables a strong favorite
6. of course, always room for improvement

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@TonyBurnetti Is that your most constructive argument, in light of everything I wrote?

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@bascule @veorq https://t.co/SDAqYk8xnZ

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

Thoughts on the bitcoin and crypto mining confusion, a thread. TL;DR:
1. energy isn't scarce
2. the way we live is energy inefficient
3. mining is not
4. mining is very competitive
5. making renewables a strong favorite
6. of course, always room for improvement

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

@chrisamccoy It is. As a matter of fact there's a rumour Tesla is working on this with their solar panels.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

P.S. On the topic, huge thanks to @Melt_dem, @lopp, @bigmarh, @nic_carter for the tireless education effort.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

6. There's always room for improvement. Common estimates are 50% to 80% renewable. But this will keep improving due to raising crypto prices, scale bringing cheaper renewable infrastructure, reductions in fossil fuel production, worldwide internet and ingenuity.

[Matthieu Riou @mriou]

Final words: what really matters for all of us isn't energy, it's CO2e. Sure, knee-jerk witch hunts are tempting and dunking on bitcoin is a lot more fun that cement production (~5%). But if you *actually* want to make a difference, you'll have to start by educating yourself.