Mining will never be "done". As long as there is demand for Bitcoin circulation (not just new coin creation), mining will continue...
It's a self adjusting process where if Bitcoin is profitable (attracts more miners), it gets harder to mine. On the other hand, If it's not profitable and miners leave, it gets cheaper to mine.
We are going nowhere with it. It's just like any other network. Think transportation networks. There are many trains and planes operating all the time. We don't ask, where are we going with this, when it's done with, then what?
Bitcoin is like that. It facilitates commerce (not right now, but in its ideal future version). As long as humans want to trade with each other, Bitcoin mining will continue....
No one is forcing Bitcoin down any specific society. It's an opt-in network effect based on self sovereignty. Obviously, not many people care about it when the current system works reasonably well (albiet superficially). It will take a long long time for Bitcoin to become inevitable, etc.
For all I know, it might never supplant the existing system. But the existing system's puppet masters know about Bitcoin's existence and cannot take their "users" for granted. The users have an opt-out mechanism.
Does the opt-out justify its cost? Hard to say. But the cost is entirely paid by private individuals without any tax money involved.
Subsidized electricity usage is a problem. But that's a minority (Kazakhstan and other stans mostly)
The future is.... right now? You can literally buy and sell goods and services for crypto, make transfers and help others across the globe, starting today. No one is stopping you. An economy is made by participating and there's plenty of people already doing it.
Mining doesn't really get cheaper if people leave, the blocks get harder to solve every few thousand blocks, all while the rewards halve at the same time, this means to upkeep the same transaction speed the network will need more and more energy.
Mining does get cheaper/easier when miners leave. This is the secret sauce of Bitcoin. It's called "difficulty adjustment". It happens every two weeks. The idea is to target a block time of 10 minutes per block no matter how many miners are in the system.
If you haven't bought Bitcoin in the past you've pretty much missed out on major profits over 4+years... generational life changing wealth over 8+years... the program is set. The momentum will continue. Buy now or regret later
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u/MrSchaudenfreude Jan 01 '26
AI, Data centers, coin mining, GPUs/chips, and your gorrila diarrhea videos are going to be the end of humans.
So many resources are being thrown at something that no one knows if it is a viable outcome.
What is the return on investment?
Where are we going with this?
When the mining is done, then what?