MINING’S COST TO PLANET EARTH
Traditional types of mining are known for their potential to negatively impact the planet, and Bitcoin mining is no different. With vast amounts of energy needed to power computerised rigs, it’s thought the total amount of power needed to mine Bitcoin worldwide is more than that used by some countries.
In the last year, the total crypto-mining power consumption soared to the equivalent of the annual carbon footprint of Argentina. A single transaction made with Bitcoin has the same carbon footprint as 680,000 Visa transactions or 51,210 hours of watching Youtube. Benjamin Jones, a professor of economics at the University of New Mexico, said the amount of electricity used to mine Bitcoin “has historically been more than [electricity used by] entire countries, like Ireland”.