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It’s abundantly clear that the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is a pernicious blight on the environment and efforts to fight climate change—no matter how much Bitcoin advocates say otherwise.
And it turns out the costs of Bitcoin’s environmental destruction is on par with that of the beef industry, according to a new study published Thursday in Scientific Reports. The authors—economists from the University of New Mexico—say that rather than representing a new kind of “digital gold,” Bitcoin is emerging more as a “digital crude” when it comes to a climate perspective.
At the end of last year, the market value for Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, was projected to be about $960 billion. Advocates have consistently promoted Bitcoin as a potential tool that can be used to encourage the exchange and growth of sustainable products and services.