[Cryptography] Question about Bitcoin's security model

[John Levine]

It appears that Alejandro Montana via cryptography <alejandromontana at tutamail.com> said:
>For the first time, mining infrastructure has a permanent, better-paying alternative buyer for the same
>megawatts. Bitcoin’s security budget now has to compete with the AI market for the same energy, while the
>subsidy halves every four years. The old question was whether fees would be enough after the subsidy fades.
>The new question is whether fees can outbid the AI rate for the same power.
>
>This is the long-term challenge.

The difficulty factor can go down as well as up.  If fewer people are mining, the difficulty
will go down which means more subsidy per unit of CPU.

I can see a lot of problems for Bitcoin, but this isn't one of them, at least until the subsidy
hits zero and even then the fees can adjust.

R's,
John