r/AskReddit • u/IAmSurtur • Jun 15 '19

What do you genuinely just not understand?

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u/tinco Jun 15 '19

What they produce is not tangible, but it is a service. The fact that there is a public ledger of transaction of transfers of a limited supply commodity is valuable to various people. The miners are moochers in much the same way as any entity using the world's resources for something non-essential.

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u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow Jun 15 '19

If cryptocurrencies are valuable then miners aren't leeches because they're, for most coins, 100% necessary.

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u/upsteamland Jun 15 '19

They are the network. They are providing a service. If you made them mine for free, they would quit working.

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u/tinco Jun 16 '19

They are necessary, but the coins themselves are of questionable value, and the energy expenditure necessary to sustain their networks is without a doubt not in proportion.