> Bitcoin will die the moment someone figures out how to build a decentralized crypto-currency that doesn't need a stupid idea like "mining" to be functional and secure.
Yup. But I wouldn't hold my breath. No one has ever created a decentralized consensus algorithm with the properties bitcoin has, before or since. And since bitcoin achieves its unique properties as a result of the economic costs of mining, asking for a mining-less bitcoin is kinda like wishing for a perpetual motion machine.
Well there are several altcoins using proof-of-stake. Whether they'll be as secure in the long term is an open question, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a perpetual motion machine.
Yup. But I wouldn't hold my breath. No one has ever created a decentralized consensus algorithm with the properties bitcoin has, before or since. And since bitcoin achieves its unique properties as a result of the economic costs of mining, asking for a mining-less bitcoin is kinda like wishing for a perpetual motion machine.