Bitcoin: They Have an Environmental Impact Similar to Oil

l’Bitcoin miningcaused damage to the between 2016 and 2021surroundings for more than $12 billion. Use the most popular of the cryptocurrency it is more polluting than a Cattle breeding and it is comparable, in terms of environmental impactwith the extraction of the Petroleum.

This is according to an analysis published in the journal: Scientific Reports and conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico. The study sought to estimate the impact that the mining of Bitcoin has on the environment because it requires a lot of electricity. Even though you are one only virtual currency it has huge environmental costs.

Producing new Bitcoins to spread the market while preventing the entire system from imploding requires the use of computers capable of running a long string of increasingly difficult calculations as the number of coins in circulation increases. These calculations cost a lot of energy and were consumed worldwide in 2020, according to the study 75.4 Terawatt hours of electricitya quarter of what Italy consumes annually.

Since 2016, carbon dioxide emissions from mining Bitcoins have also increased, from 0.9 tons of CO₂ for a Bitcoin to 113 tons in 2021. In a global calculation of these emissions, an environmental damage is estimated at more than 12 billion dollars. In 2020, I climate damage products have exceeded the value of single coin 50%. On average, the environmental cost of Bitcoins is equivalent to about 35% of their market value, comparable to the impact oil extraction has (41%) and more than beef production (33%).