Videos by Hass McCook
Papers by Hass McCook
Financial Cryptography and Data Security. FC 2022 International Workshops
We present a scalable architecture for electronic retail payments via central bank digital curren... more We present a scalable architecture for electronic retail payments via central bank digital currency and offer a solution to the perceived conflict between robust regulatory oversight and consumer affordances such as privacy and control. Our architecture combines existing work in payment systems and digital currency with a new approach to digital asset design for managing unforgeable, stateful, and oblivious assets without relying on either a central authority or a monolithic consensus system. Regulated financial institutions have a role in every transaction, and the consumer affordances are achieved through the use of non-custodial wallets that unlink the sender from the recipient in the transaction channel. This approach is fully compatible with the existing two-tiered banking system and can complement and extend the roles of existing money services businesses and asset custodians.
Financial Cryptography and Data Security - FC 2022 International Workshops, 2023
The global Bitcoin mining industry has grown to a size where its overall energy consumption is fr... more The global Bitcoin mining industry has grown to a size where its overall energy consumption is frequently compared to that of entire countries. Indeed, as of 30 April 2022, following the successful migration of the entire Chinese mining industry after its expulsion from China in mid-2021, Bitcoin uses approximately 247.0 TWh of primary energy per year, slightly less than the entire nation of New Zealand, the 63rd ranked nation by total energy consumption.
To understand what drives Bitcoin’s energy use and emissions however, one must understand four key concepts: how Bitcoin works and incentivises its miners, the nature of competition in the mining industry, the nature of mining hardware and innovation, and importantly, international energy and electricity markets and the differences between them.
This paper will provide a thorough explanation of these concepts, as well as provide commentary on Bitcoin’s current state, and what the Bit coin Mining Industry may potentially look like towards the end of the decade.
This paper serves to update the assumptions used in a prior version of this research from Februar... more This paper serves to update the assumptions used in a prior version of this research from February 2015 (https://goo.gl/UZ9B3e) , and provides a systematic methodology of modelling the environmental and economic costs of Bitcoin. Furthermore, the paper will provide a thorough discussion on the economics of Bitcoin mining to support the underlying model assumptions. Comparative data with the Gold Mining industry will also be revisited.
Based on the assumptions set forth in this paper, the model has estimated the average cost to mine one bitcoin to be roughly $6,450. It should be noted that this research is an inductive, bottom-up estimate, with the intent to provide a ball-park estimate.
A sensitivity analysis has also been undertaken to demonstrate range of costs under different scenarios, which shows a realistic range of average mining cost of between $5400 (driven by aggressive electricity price assumptions), and $7500 (driven by hash rate increase assumptions). Due to the nature of competition in the Bitcoin mining market, costs that are significantly higher than the market price of Bitcoin can generally be ignored in the short term.
Organizational decision-makers set their strategies in line with their firm's global, macroeconom... more Organizational decision-makers set their strategies in line with their firm's global, macroeconomic, and microeconomic competitive contexts. When the nature of competition of a market is understood, certain generalizations and predictions about a market participant can be made. This paper looks at the nature of competition of the Bitcoin mining microeconomy in the broad contexts of the global monetary macroeconomy, and the much smaller Bitcoin macroeconomy, or ecosystem. From there, organizational decision making in the aforementioned context is discussed. A comparison of empirical data with academic literature suggests that whilst the nature of the Bitcoin mining market is not currently perfectly competitive, it has strong potential to become so in the long term. The trajectory from near perfect to perfect is then briefly set out, and predictions made for the future.
![Research paper thumbnail of [OBSOLETE] An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/34202189/thumbnails/1.jpg)
An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network - 2nd Edition, Feb 11, 2015
There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, with t... more There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, with this fascinating nascent technology facing several claims that it is highly unsustainable from a social, economic and environmental point of view. This paper aims to disprove or support these claims about the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, and provide an order-of-magnitude comparison of the relative sustainability of Bitcoin when compared with the incumbent banking industry, the gold production industry, and the process of printing and minting of physical currency.
Widely available public information strongly refutes claims that Bitcoin is unsustainable, and shows that the social, environmental and economic impacts are a minuscule fraction of the impacts that the legacy wealth and monetary systems have on our society and environment.
Conference Presentations by Hass McCook
Proceedings of The 3rd Workshop on Coordination of Decentralized Finance (CoDecFin) 2022, 2022
The global Bitcoin mining industry has grown to a size where its overall energy consumption is fr... more The global Bitcoin mining industry has grown to a size where its overall energy consumption is frequently compared to that of entire countries. Indeed, as of 30 April 2022, following the successful migration of the entire Chinese mining industry after its expulsion from China in mid-2021, Bitcoin uses approximately 247.0 TWh of primary energy per year, slightly less than the entire nation of New Zealand, the 63 rd ranked nation by total energy consumption. To understand what drives Bitcoin's energy use and emissions however, one must understand four key concepts: how Bitcoin works and incentivises its miners, the nature of competition in the mining industry, the nature of mining hardware and innovation, and importantly, international energy and electricity markets and the differences between them. This paper will provide a thorough explanation of these concepts, as well as provide commentary on Bitcoin's current state, and what the Bitcoin Mining Industry may potentially look like towards the end of the decade.
Since the dawn of commerce several millennia ago, individuals and organisations have been paying ... more Since the dawn of commerce several millennia ago, individuals and organisations have been paying one another. From humble beginnings with barter transactions, payment systems have evolved to meet the changing needs of the market and user base. From trading salt, sheep and shells, to coins and eventually cash, the past few generations have seen a boom in payments innovation in the digital era. Our fast moving digital world has seen a move away from cash, and a move to plastic, silicon and fibre optics through our love of "tap and go" payments, and online and mobile banking. In Australia, there is a lot of work going into the next evolution in payment systems through the New Payments Platform (NPP), and Mr Paul Lahiff, Chairman of the NPP Steering Committee will give us an update on its development ahead of its completion in a few years' time.
Hashing Out Hashrates - Understanding Bitcoin’s Network Hashrate as a Market In Its Own Right
Competitive Strategy & Crypto – Dealing with Disruption in the Decentralised Digital Economy
Com... more Competitive Strategy & Crypto – Dealing with Disruption in the Decentralised Digital Economy
Competitive Strategy within the digital currency mining industry (using Bitcoin as an illustrative example)
An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network - A critical... more An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network - A critical assessment of the Bitcoin mining industry, gold production industry, the legacy banking system, and the production of physical currency
Teaching Documents by Hass McCook
Lots of well-referenced bits and pieces to use while preparing sales proposals for potential bitc... more Lots of well-referenced bits and pieces to use while preparing sales proposals for potential bitcoin-supported merchants
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Videos by Hass McCook
Papers by Hass McCook
To understand what drives Bitcoin’s energy use and emissions however, one must understand four key concepts: how Bitcoin works and incentivises its miners, the nature of competition in the mining industry, the nature of mining hardware and innovation, and importantly, international energy and electricity markets and the differences between them.
This paper will provide a thorough explanation of these concepts, as well as provide commentary on Bitcoin’s current state, and what the Bit coin Mining Industry may potentially look like towards the end of the decade.
Based on the assumptions set forth in this paper, the model has estimated the average cost to mine one bitcoin to be roughly $6,450. It should be noted that this research is an inductive, bottom-up estimate, with the intent to provide a ball-park estimate.
A sensitivity analysis has also been undertaken to demonstrate range of costs under different scenarios, which shows a realistic range of average mining cost of between $5400 (driven by aggressive electricity price assumptions), and $7500 (driven by hash rate increase assumptions). Due to the nature of competition in the Bitcoin mining market, costs that are significantly higher than the market price of Bitcoin can generally be ignored in the short term.
Widely available public information strongly refutes claims that Bitcoin is unsustainable, and shows that the social, environmental and economic impacts are a minuscule fraction of the impacts that the legacy wealth and monetary systems have on our society and environment.
Conference Presentations by Hass McCook
Competitive Strategy within the digital currency mining industry (using Bitcoin as an illustrative example)
Teaching Documents by Hass McCook
To understand what drives Bitcoin’s energy use and emissions however, one must understand four key concepts: how Bitcoin works and incentivises its miners, the nature of competition in the mining industry, the nature of mining hardware and innovation, and importantly, international energy and electricity markets and the differences between them.
This paper will provide a thorough explanation of these concepts, as well as provide commentary on Bitcoin’s current state, and what the Bit coin Mining Industry may potentially look like towards the end of the decade.
Based on the assumptions set forth in this paper, the model has estimated the average cost to mine one bitcoin to be roughly $6,450. It should be noted that this research is an inductive, bottom-up estimate, with the intent to provide a ball-park estimate.
A sensitivity analysis has also been undertaken to demonstrate range of costs under different scenarios, which shows a realistic range of average mining cost of between $5400 (driven by aggressive electricity price assumptions), and $7500 (driven by hash rate increase assumptions). Due to the nature of competition in the Bitcoin mining market, costs that are significantly higher than the market price of Bitcoin can generally be ignored in the short term.
Widely available public information strongly refutes claims that Bitcoin is unsustainable, and shows that the social, environmental and economic impacts are a minuscule fraction of the impacts that the legacy wealth and monetary systems have on our society and environment.
Competitive Strategy within the digital currency mining industry (using Bitcoin as an illustrative example)