Study says Bitcoin impact greater than gold mining
Over the last five years, the environmental cost of creating cryptocurrencies has averaged 35% of its market value.
According to experts at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, when measured as a percentage of market value, the climatic impact of bitcoin mining is equal to raising cattle or burning gasoline.
The University of New Mexico study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, calculated the market value of several commodities as a percentage of the cost of climate change for each one.
According to the data, some, like coal, hurt the environment almost ninety-five percent as much as the value of the market they support. Other commodities, like the production of pork, have significant overall climate consequences, but only because of the size of the market.
The study makes comparisons to other businesses and seeks to determine the energy-related climate harm that proof-of-work (PoW) Bitcoin mining causes. According to the claim, $0.35 in “climate damages” were caused globally for every $1.00 in BTC market value gained between 2016 and 2021, adding:
“Which as a share of market value is in the range between beef production and crude oil burned as gasoline, and an order-of-magnitude higher than wind and solar power.”
In 2020, the energy required to mine Bitcoin, which accounts for about 41% of the global cryptocurrency market, would have powered entire nations like Austria or Portugal. According to data mentioned in the report, between January 2016 and June 2018, emissions of carbon dioxide from mining Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Monero currency ranged from 3 to 15 million metric tonnes. That is comparable to Afghanistan, Slovenia, or Uruguay’s emissions for the entire year of 2018.
According to the researchers, the expected rewards to bitcoin miners have decreased by two-thirds due to falling prices, which has forced some to go out of business and forced others to scale back their operations, resulting in a 14% reduction in emissions from 2021 to the present.
Because several miners compete to validate transactions on the blockchain in order to mine new coins, Bitcoin’s carbon footprint increases over time. The total amount of energy used climbs as more miners compete to complete increasingly challenging activities.
It is highly improbable that the Bitcoin network would become sustainable by moving to proof-of-stake, the researchers say, adding that the findings reflect “a series of red signals for any consideration as a sustainable industry.”
Up Next: AIBC Malta Week 2022
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