The Controversies regarding Environmental Damage by Crypto Mining 

Charlotte Miller

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Cryptocurrency Mining has become a famous phrase for earning cryptocurrency more profitably. As we can see in the global market, the craze of cryptocurrency between the investors and the traders has been at a pinnacle, compared to when fiat currencies were the only alternative of the trading medium, and there are soft profiting limited commodities to invest on. The result of this is the increasing attraction towards cryptocurrency mining and trading. 

Some groups against the regulations of cryptocurrency and mining in the global market propose minor but considerable facts against these virtual coins. Keep reading the article about Bitcoin as the financial to get some information regarding cryptocurrency trading. Some include its volatility, unregulated market areas, a greater risk of losing because of inconsistent price fluctuation.

But the topic which has the hottest debates over is the energy consumption of cryptocurrency. So, how much electricity does cryptocurrency consume, and are the consumption rates alarming? What proportion of environmental damage does cryptocurrency contribute? Let’s check. 

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Does Crypto Mining consume alarming rates of energy?

The most prominent cryptocurrency is a virtual currency running on a digital database supported by blockchain technology. This feature, however, is considered a disadvantage when considering electricity consumption. According to controversies, a considerably high amount of electricity is required to maintain cryptocurrency’s all-time regulation and transaction processes, which is far from true.

For example, a single Bitcoin transaction requires a little over 250KWh of energy, equivalent to Air conditioner running continuously for 3 to 4 days. This amount of energy may sound scary, but if we compare it to the amount of energy required in any other industrial work or, for example, paper industries for fiat currencies, cryptocurrency’s energy usage becomes faint.   

There is also the cryptocurrency mining trend, which has been running wild between investors. Millions of investors buying a super-fast computer with extremely high performance have the power to get the most out of Crypto mining. It creates the illusion that this process consumes a staggering amount of electricity. However, with interconnected networks created by cryptocurrency servers to the investor’s network, it becomes very energy efficient comparatively. 

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Is cryptocurrency the only reason for global energy consumption? 

With these digital assets needing a constant amount of electricity needed to power many cryptocurrencies servers and databases and millions of buyers’ computers, a resilient controversy arises: virtual coins are primarily responsible for global energy consumption. However, many industrial applications in the production of paper currencies are more responsible for this. So, many non-renewable resources like coal, fossil fuels, etc., are used to meet the demand. But, non-renewable power generation like coal farms and plants that use fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases and many other harmful effects. For example, gases like carbon dioxide are very harmful. 

Cryptocurrencies are based on a digital server powered by blockchain technology. Hence, the only need for power usage is for transactions and all-time verifications. As a result, industrial workers share the giant pie in carbon emissions alongside transportation.   

Many studies have claimed that carbon emissions are at their peak. Suppose no considerable measures are taken to minimize them. In that case, phenomena such as global warming will pick up the pace and pose a threat to temperature-sensitive species, especially many endangered plant species, and possibly shortly, to humankind.   

What are the solutions to these controversies for cryptocurrency?

There are limited solutions to this problem; commonly suggested is to increase the total volume of generated electricity to meet the demand. However, this is not possible instantly, as discovering new and efficient methods of generating electricity requires a lot of research and experimentation.  

Although cryptocurrencies do not share a more significant proportion of carbon emissions, they become the centre point of controversy because of the increasing usage of massive supercomputers that investors have mined these virtual coins. Still, the results of energy consumption are exaggerated and not much concerning.  

Cryptocurrency, a currency based on a decentralized network of secure and fast transactions filled with the potential to be the future of currency, cannot be wasted due to minor controversies like that. On the contrary, an even better and efficient energy generation network will put cryptocurrency away from these controversies and one step further to idealism.