Mining BTC consumes a lot of electricity and generates e-waste piles, according to research.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, criticized Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), or rather the mining process, for absorbing too much electricity. is a response to a study conducted by PwC blockchain expert and Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries.
De Vries has calculated that BTC's mining / extraction currently consumes more electricity than Chile. Another shocking opinion, according to the expert, is that the leading cryptocurrency currently generates more e-waste than Luxembourg. In addition, the Bitcoin carbon footprint is now equivalent to New Zealand's footprint. One BTC transaction also releases more carbon dioxide than over 780,000. Visa transactions.
As the expert points out, along with the constantly growing hashrate and mining difficulty, the industry is becoming more and more competitive. After halving, which will occur in about ten weeks, older mining platforms will become obsolete.
de Vries writes that outdated mining equipment, or even 98 percent. existing cryptocurrency mining equipment will become useless and go straight to the landfill within a year and a half after the first use, given that they only have one use case. as a result, they will create another huge pile of e-waste.
Garlinghouse critically about digging BTC and ETH.
All this was enough for Brad Garlinghouse to say that mining BTC and ETH is a huge waste and no one wants to take responsibility for the resulting carbon footprint. Ripple CEO is also surprised that cryptocurrency mining is not higher in global climate change policy ..
https://twitter.com/bgarlinghouse/status/1234997098568798208?s=20
Although Bitcoin mining is a profitable industry, according to Garlinghouse, its negative impact on the environment should not be underestimated.
Although Bitcoin mining actually consumes a lot of electricity, CoinShares research from last year shows that over 74 percent. BTC mining is based on renewable energy (such as solar or hydropower), which significantly reduces environmental damage. the report also notes that digging operations are concentrated where there is a large amount of renewable energy resources. the correlation between Bitcoin mining and renewable energy means that BTC mining is "more fueled by renewable energy sources than almost any other large-scale industry in the world," conclude from CoinShares.
