• Newly released emails show bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto predicted bitcoin’s energy use.
  • “I think it would still be less wasteful than the labour and resource intensive conventional banking activity it would replace.”
  • The 2009 emails were unveiled as part of a legal battle surrounding Satoshi’s identity.

Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of bitcoin, predicted the debate over the token’s energy use more than a decade ago, and said that cryptocurrency mining would be energy intensive but still less so than the legacy banking system. 

“If it did grow to consume significant energy, I think it would still be less wasteful than the labour and resources intensive conventional banking activity it would replace,” Satoshi said in a 2009 email exchange released by early bitcoin developer Martii “Sirius” Malmi as part of a trial in the UK High Court. 

The emails were published by Wired on Thursday.

Bitcoin uses an energy-intensive "proof of work" to bolster security, validate transactions, and prevent double-spending. Satoshi said it's "the only solution I've found to make p2p e-cash work without a trusted third party," referring to peer-to-peer transactions. 

A 2021 report from Galaxy Digital suggests that bitcoin uses less than half the energy of conventional banking, and also uses less than gold mining. 

"Ironic if we end up having to choose between economic liberty and conservation," Satoshi wrote in the email. 

The document dump comes as part of a legal battle in the UK over the identity of Satoshi. At the center of the court case is developer Craig Wright, who has claimed he is Satoshi, a claim that's been widely disputed.

In a case brought by an industry consortium called the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, Wright's claims are being challenged. 

The stakes of the trial are high. Should he prove victorious, Wright could become a significant decision-maker as far as how bitcoin code develops in the future.

COPA, for its part, claims that Wright has fabricated evidence that he is Satoshi Nakamoto and a court should limit his ability to make legal claims based on that fact.