Crypto Pollution | Bitcoin blackens the atmosphere
How can cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which cannot even be touched, emit so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? China, which until recently managed 65 percent of the world's bitcoin network, can answer that question if it goes back to its reasons for stopping bitcoin mining in its own country. With that, the 'mining industry' spread from China to neighboring Kazakhstan and the United States. The new pollution crisis is exacerbated where China did not do what the rich and poor do. Beyond the economic side of bitcoin, there are many issues to be discussed at this time when member states in the European Union and delegates in the US Congress have called for an end to the energy crisis and pollution caused by bitcoin.
In just ten years, there will be no other currency in the world that is 65,000 times more valuable. Bitcoin, which was valued at just one dollar in 2011, will reach $ 65,000 in 2021. The faceless man (humans?) Satoshi Nakamoto, who was brought to the world in 2008, became a millionaire overnight in one of the techies who made this internet money just a craze. The glamor of the region is compounded by the fact that Bitcoin itself is the reward for those who help with Bitcoin transactions. This bumper star was the beginning of all accidents.
By the time the bitcoin pitch began in 2009, a home computer was enough to organize a coin. That is not the case for more than 12 years. Last year, a single bitcoin transaction was estimated to generate an average of 1719.51 kilowatts of electricity. If the cryptocurrency analytics site Digigonomist is right, a bitcoin transaction would require up to 2,106.37 kilowatts of electricity, including all associated electricity costs. That's about 72 days' worth of electricity in a typical American home. Many of the Bitcoin mining centers that used to be larger than the vast expanse of the computer in place of the home computer back then should work in the same way. The issue is the source of the power used for it.
According to a study by the University of Cambridge (Global cryptoasset benchmarking study 2020), 122.87 terawatts of electricity is required per year for bitcoin transactions. That is more electricity than Argentina, the Netherlands and the UAE use in a year. Or the IT giants Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft working together for more than a year. If Bitcoin were a country, it would be the 39th largest consumer of electricity in the world. Ever since Bitcoin miners began to search for low-cost electricity, our breathing has become more and more black. The environmental problems caused by bitcoin mining are not a crisis that the world can solve very quickly.
According to a Cambridge study, only 39% of the electricity used for bitcoin mining comes from renewable sources, including solar. About 38% of coal-fired power plants use coal, which pollutes the air. Natural gas is different. It is estimated that between 2015 and 2021, the amount of electricity required for bitcoin exchanges increased by 62 times in the six years. It is estimated that last year alone saw a significant increase in power consumption, which marked a significant milestone in Bitcoin's history. That is where the crisis begins.