Topic: Which Cryptocurrencies Will Survive In Future? (Read 113 times)

This is the question everyone is considering before participating in an ICO. For some of them it is a crucial one. Each digital currency has its own aspects but the most important features of the today's cryptocurrencies (BTW, same as of the traditional fiat currencies) are the generation of new tokens after ICO and their circulation in their system. The second one is pretty straightforward: almost all of the cryptocurrencies offer a comprehensive idea how their moneys will circulate in their ecosystem.

However, if we scrutinize the way how their ecosystem generates its new tokens you'll find one major drawback of the most today’s cryptocurrencies: the absence of inherent underlying value which is directly tied to the process of generating new tokens. In case of Proof of Work (PoW) miners require a large number of computers in order to take part in the computational race to solve a puzzle and earn new tokens. This long process involves upgrading computing hardware and burning enormous energy. Consequently, there has been a sharp rise in the number of mining farms to manage the ever-growing computing demands of this network. E.g. the energy consumption on a mining of Bitcoin and Ethereum in August 2017 totalled 21 terawatt-hours a year and exceeded the energy consumption of Croatia and Moldova correspondingly. If we consider the total energy consumption of all the today’s cryptocurrencies the whole picture looks more tragic. Thus, the creation of every new token is associated with the demand that a certain amount of energy, hardware and time which are indeed scarce must be expended.

Sooner or later the governments will regulate the cryptocurrencies by differentiating them by their circulation and generation of new tokens.

I doubt that the cryptocurrencies not based on 'green' principles would survive. What do you think?