Bitcoin is Worse for the Planet Than Beef

Experts believe the environmental costs of cryptocurrency mining are They also point to a more Earth-friendly alternative unsustainable.

- JESS THOMSON

ACCORDING TO A PAPER PUBLISHED IN THE journal Scientific Reports, the mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is environmentally unsustainable because of the huge amount of electricity it requires. Mining has at times created harm to the environment not only greater than beef farming and other industries, but also greater than the value of the currencies produced.

This energy use "is because of the proof-of-work production process that [Bitcoin] uses," Benjamin A. Jones, an associate professor at the University of New Mexico's Department of Economics and co-author of the paper, tells Newsweek. Bitcoin mining uses an estimated 75.4 terawatt-hours per year (TWhyear-1). All of Austria only uses 69.9 TWhyear-1.

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency, one of several digital nongovernmental currencies that can be used for transactions outside of any country's financial system. These transactions are anonymous and verified by a cryptography system called blockchain, essentially a vast, decentralized records-keeping method.

Bitcoin and other well-known cryptocurrencies are generated via a process known as mining. The blockchain system requires "proof-of-work" to be given before a new crypto token is validated. Computers show proof of work by solving a complex cryptographic puzzle. Miners compete against each other to be first to solve the puzzles, leading them to invest in large computer farms or to combine their resources in computing pools.

"Miners all over the world use highly specialized computer equipment to engage in a massive numbers guessing game," Jones says, "The more and better your equipment, the faster you can guess the right result before your competition. This leads miners to invest in more and better equipment that uses ever more and more electricity. Magnify