We are all aware of China and its hostile history towards cryptocurrency. It was merely a few weeks ago that the NDRC put a draft forward to ban cryptocurrency mining in the country which now awaits the approval from the public.
Perhaps, most critics of this rapidly growing industry claim that mining cryptocurrency uses a lot of energy which they later translate that bitcoin (BTC) mining is behind killing the environmental.
However, the approach to crucifying bitcoin is wrong. We should instead start by asking how much pollution bitcoin mining produces to be rendered an enemy of the environment.
Bitcoin Mining Far Behind in Energy Consumption
It’s true that mining cryptocurrency uses a lot of energy. And it’s also true that environmentalists repeatedly have targeted bitcoin of late. However, to have an intelligent debate, all facts must be brought onto the table.
It’s misleading to attack cryptocurrencies for environmental impacts especially when we have more prominent players on the front foot.
Do you drive to work?
Yes, cryptocurrency mining uses a lot of energy, but it doesn’t create any significant pollution as automobiles do.
In fact, according to one Twitter user (@khannib), bitcoin mining for the past ten years, has consumed energy as much as US cars do in just three days. Can you imagine that?
Bitcoin mining, in its 10 years of existence, consumed as much energy as US cars do in 3 days.
— Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) April 11, 2019
Moreover, comparing the electricity used by the global banking sector with that of bitcoin, the later consumes relatively lower. Besides, bitcoin’s energy consumption unlike most in the banking sector is energy renewable.
Furthermore, bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) model is getting more less costly as the algorithm-cracking becomes energy-efficient as a result of technological innovation. Therefore, the energy consumption of bitcoin will only improve with time.
And coincidentally, the 1.75×10^17 joules used in the 10 years of mining bitcoin (hypothetically with S9 miners as a baseline) equals ONE SECOND of solar energy hitting the earth right now. (1.74×10^17 Watts) https://t.co/fRFBQJ75W1
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) April 11, 2019
Then What’s the Real Problem?
Clearly, environmentalists, the argument has to be that Bitcoin mining is not the enemy. Energy usage should never be the problem; instead, the way we create the energy should be the problem.
If we could be talking about prohibiting bitcoin mining due to cost issues and not environmental issues, then apparently that could make some real point. For instance, as much as it doesn’t matter how much electricity is needed for bitcoin miners, it’s good to reduce energy consumption.
Therefore, bitcoin is not the producer of energy but only uses it. The ones producing it should be in question as environmental enemies. Blaming cryptocurrency mining for not being green enough is ironic; maybe we should shift the blame to the banks.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.