Is Mining Bitcoin Moral?

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Eagle67

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Simply securing the Bitcoin network from attack cannot be wrong? But is the whole idea of Bitcoin wrong since it attempts to disrupt our current system? It topples government control and subjugation, but enables criminals to anonymously sell immoral items? There is so much grey here. Is anyone capable of sorting it all out? Please see Bitcoin wikipedia

PS - Kudos to the admins of this site, as it has received an A+ grade from SSL Labs
 
I’m not sure I follow you. Are you asking a question on the use of cryptocurrency, or the mining of it. TO me they are different and the latter has the potential to be more problematic (using the computing power of others.
 
The mining of it. The purpose of mining is to secure the bitcoin network from attack. To mine, you download software on your computer, and usually buy an expensive graphics card capable of high end computing, and then let the software beat up your card and burn through your electricity. Thank you for your response. This looks like an active community!
 
Thanks for the reply. I thought the mining was computational to obtain the coin in the process of securing the network.

This is only my own opinion. IF you are using your computer, power, etc., I don’t see that as particularly wrong. Any currency can be used in an anonymous manner (to some extent) for immoral purposes.
 
Mining bitcoin is not intrinsically evil, so the morality depends on intention and circumstances. What is your motivation for mining? Does it do more harm than good?
 
Bitcoin is nothing but a code of numbers… people attach their own morality to it. Like gold in hand, it actually lends itself to truth and just trade because it’s a mathematical number.
 
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My financial situation has been bad for a few years, and I’m looking for another way to improve it. I feel the stock market is manipulated, and bitcoin represents a chance to invest in something somewhat pure before it too gets corrupted. I suppose it does an unmeasurable amount of good (in securing the network), and then it may or may not help my kids go to college (low risk with potential high reward). Thanks to everyone’s posts so far, I’m not yet seeing that it would do harm
 
There are many aspects to both the use and mining of Bitcoin that are still hard to comment on. But one is easy, as I see it, and it is this: mining Bitcoin uses a lot of electricity. A bitcoin mining rig uses more power than your average electrical water-kettle. In a world in which excessive power consumption is obviously becoming a serious problem, would you leave a water-kettle running for months, years, decades? As I see it, this really is a moral question, not an economical one. Even if you live in a location where electricity is so cheap that it’s easy to turn a profit on Bitcoin mining, you’ll still be burning up electricity by the megawatts on an artifically created (computational) problem.
 
Bitcoin is just another coin. We do not worship money. So owning what we do with it should be done in the sense that we realize our existence is not attached to it. We take none of it with us when die.
So what is more evil about bitcoin than just the coins government issues based on gold? Some say gold has dark powers. 😛
Besides Bitcoin is not the only virtual coin out there. Whether you mine it or not Bitcoin is just a coin. It can flunk just like any other coin issued by the government. Mining it sounds like attaching yourself too much on your investment so it may have a negative moral aspect only you and your conscience know about.
I have to admit that if I would’ve owned any Bitcoin I would’ve sold by now when it hit its peak.
 
Mary888 said:
It can flunk just like any other coin issued by the government.
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No, I’m sorry but this is quite wrong. The funny thing about Bitcoin is that it is not created by any government at all; it can be created by anyone, you “just” have to use your computer to solve a special computational (mathematical) problem (i.e. a puzzle). But, solving this puzzle takes a HUGE amount of time for your computer, which is why creating just 1 single Bitcoin (currently worth about $8,500) is not easy. Most Bitcoin makers (called “miners”) now buy and use special computers called mining rigs, which are much better (faster) at it than a regular desktop or laptop.

Another funny thing about Bitcoin is that it is impossible that more than 21 million total “Bitcoins” will ever exist in the world. This limit is “embedded” in the mathematical puzzle used to create Bitcoin. Therefore, it’s extremely unlikely that Bitcoin will ever “flunk” for reasons that other currencies have flunked, such as high inflation, or overspending by the government that issued the currency, or overprinting by that country’s central bank. None of this applies to Bitcoin, because, as stated, Bitcoin is not issued by any government, and it is therefore not associated with any country.
Mary888 said:
Some say gold has dark powers.
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Well, it’s funny you should say that, because Bitcoin is much more similar to gold than to foreign currencies. Like gold, Bitcoin is hard to find (i.e. “mine”), it is limited in total supply, and more of it cannot be artificially created once its limit is reached (i.e. all of it has been “mined”), which for Bitcoin is expected to be in 2140. It is because of its similarity to gold that the term “mining” is used for its manufacturing.

Is it good or bad? We’ll have to see, but remember what you said about gold…
 
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Eagle67 said:
Simply securing the Bitcoin network from attack cannot be wrong? But is the whole idea of Bitcoin wrong since it attempts to disrupt our current system? It topples government control and subjugation, but enables criminals to anonymously sell immoral items? There is so much grey here. Is anyone capable of sorting it all out? Please see Bitcoin wikipedia
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No, the idea of Bitcoin is not wrong, it’s just a different way of doing things.

If you use your Bitcoin to buy illegal drugs, then it’s the purchase of illegal drugs that is wrong whether you’re using Bitcoin or cash money.

If you spend all day trying to generate Bitcoin instead of being kind to your fellow man, then that’s morally questionable just like if you spend all day trying to make money some other way while ignoring others.

There isn’t “a lot of gray here”
 
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Thank you for your extensive reply.
I think that if for us money exceed in importance than to just offer a way of living in this world, then it will corrupt our soul too. And by money I mean and object, real or virtual (like bitcoin), that can be used as a coin.
The value of bitcoin in report to government currencies I have seen it to change, so this means that its value can get high or low, just like govt money, no? But it can never be reduced to naught, right? Unless technology breaks down or the internet stops working and then bitcoin simply stops existing because it cannot be accessed (an idea to be considered).
 
Mary888 said:
The value of bitcoin in report to government currencies I have seen it to change, so this means that its value can get high or low, just like govt money, no?
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Yes, it can go up and down, but Bitcoin’s value can’t be ruined by bad government policy such as printing trillions of it, or the economy collapsing due to a giant national debt.
Mary888 said:
But it can never be reduced to naught, right? Unless technology breaks down or the internet stops working and then bitcoin simply stops existing because it cannot be accessed (an idea to be considered).
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You’re right, and that’s a very interesting thought! 🙂
 
Correct me if I’m wrong. I thought one of the so-called advantages behind the various crypto currencies is that one can avoid (or evade) paying taxes, such as income tax or sales tax. Assuming that individuals who trade heavily with crypto currency for that reason, while continuing to enjoy the benefits of taxation, like utilities, police, fire fighters, etc., but leaving the actual burden of paying for these services to others, I would have a moral problem with that.
 
No, the tax policy is that it must be treated like property capital gain. So for example, every time I spend a cyrptocurrency, it is going to be taxed as a commodity. This makes it very difficult to trade at this point. The IRS can keep tabs on this by checking in with trading platforms such as Coinbase. But the difficulty is that trading platforms may become a thing of the past as people begin to learn its value and discover ways to trade it. Crypto currency technology has outpaced government bureaucracy. Is this bad? It is what it is. And I think it’s a better, a just form of trade than what we are forced to trade with now; the corruption of the petrol USD, the corruption of Quantitative easing (inflation), and a corrupt and unstable situation of national debt. We must find a way to live with it and switch over to an income tax method if they want to keep abreast of a changing global financial situation.
 
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I knew an expert would soon set me straight 😁
Daisy said:
Is this bad? It is what it is
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I thought of that too, that the burden of keeping up with these evolving currencies rests with the governments which want (or need) the tax dollars, but I personally still don’t like the idea of doing a blatant end run around the tax laws which we all rely on just so I can profit more. Call me a fool. Or a socialist. Whatever, I’ve heard it all before 😒
 
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I understand where you’re coming from. No, our society’s government needs a percentage of tax to keep things going. New methods may come out of this situation, ie flat tax of some sort. Things are changing, whether people want to see and admit it or not.
 
As I learn more about this, I think that my existing gear may not constitute enough of a “rig” to even generate one coin. The morality of it may not end up being the limiting factor for me, but I certainly am thankful for all of the posts/opinions/advice.
 
Mary888 said:
Unless technology breaks down or the internet stops working and then bitcoin simply stops existing because it cannot be accessed (an idea to be considered).
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If the internet broke down, USD, and society as a whole would, as well. What people don’t realize is that USD is a global electronic currency too. Any USD transaction of any significant value is done by a computer ledger system, and so is the accounting of them. There are VERY few actual real green dollars in existence and circulation.
 
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It’s simply a honest measuring device of what’s real; human being’s work, productivity.
 
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