Bitcoin is a form of electronic cash (crypto currency) that can be sent from user-to-user using bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Satoshi Nakamoto implemented the bitcoin software which is a wallet open-source programme and released it in January 2009. All sounds good with bitcoin but the issue is power-hungry heavy hardware used for the transactions.
A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change finds that if Bitcoin is implemented at similar rates at which other technologies have been incorporated, it alone could produce enough carbon dioxide emissions to raise global temperatures by 2°C as soon as 2033. Currently, the emissions from burning of fossil fuels by vehicles, electricity generation from coal and diesel and food are considered the main contributors to ongoing climate change.
Purchasing with bitcoins and several other crypto-currencies requires hardware that demands large amounts of electricity. Bitcoin purchases create transactions that are recorded and processed by a group of individuals referred to as miners. Miners group every Bitcoin transaction made during a specific timeframe into a block. Blocks are then added to the chain, which is the public ledger. The verification process by miners, who compete to decipher a computationally demanding proof-of-work in exchange for bitcoins, requires large amounts of electricity.
The electricity requirements of Bitcoin have created considerable difficulties, and extensive online discussion, about where to put the facilities that compute the proof-of-work of Bitcoin. A somewhat less discussed issue is the environmental impacts of producing all that electricity.
A team of researchers from the University of Hawaii analysed information such as the power efficiency of computers used by Bitcoin mining, the geographic location of the miners who likely computed the Bitcoin, and the carbon dioxide emissions of producing electricity in those countries. Based on the data, the researchers estimated that the use of bitcoins in the year 2017 emitted 69 million metric tonnes of CO2. Researchers also studied how other technologies have been adopted by society, and created scenarios to estimate the cumulative emissions of Bitcoin should it grow at the rate that other technologies have been incorporated.
The research team found that if Bitcoin is incorporated its cumulative emissions will be enough to warm the planet above 2°C in just 22 years. If incorporated at the average rate of other technologies, it is closer to 16 years.
