My thought too:
The cryptocurrency “uses a validation mechanism for transactions that is environmentally destructive” and “doesn’t scale up very well,” he explained. Indeed, bitcoin’s carbon footprint is bigger than the whole of New Zealand.
Prasad said some of the newer cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology far more efficiently than bitcoin does.
He believes blockchain technology will be “fundamentally transformative” in the way that finance is done and in the way we conduct our day-to-day transactions, like buying a house or buying a car.“
Given that bitcoin is not serving well as a medium of exchange, I don’t think it’s going to have any fundamental value other than whatever investor’s faith leads it to have,” Prasad said.
Source: Bitcoin ‘may not last that much longer,’ academic warns
A related issue, as Prasad notes, is there are now hundreds of digital currencies.
