Bitcoin mining is getting harmful to the environment. Active mining for cryptocurrencies in different parts of the world requires enormous energy consumption. The amount of electricity consumed by some countries is less than that required by crypto miners. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a separate tool from researchers at Cambridge University, the energy used to create bitcoin reached the equivalent of the annual carbon footprint of Argentina. “We’re talking about multiple terawatts, dozens of terawatts a year of electricity being used just for bitcoin,” Benjamin Jones, a professor of economics at the University of New Mexico, said. The algorithm of bitcoin mining is gradually expanding. As of now, 18.5 million out of the existing 21 million bitcoins have already been mined. This means that future mining will require special computer equipment with higher processing power that will definitely consume more energy. Today, BTC mining produces 36.95 megatons of CO2 annually which is comparable to the carbon footprint of New Zealand. Such huge carbon dioxide emissions intensify the process of the greenhouse effect. Given that bitcoin remains the world’s leading cryptocurrency, its negative impact on the environment is likely to increase further.
