Environmental impact of crypto mining

Today’s financial markets reflect the changes that cryptocurrencies have introduced. The ease and transparency of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets have led more people and companies to consider their adoption as a trading and payment instrument.

In the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, not only government regulations and cybersecurity measures are taken into account. This financial activity is facing harsh criticism from environmentalists, who say that crypto mining requires excessive electricity consumption.

Keeping the computers necessary for mining running 24 hours a day implies, for each piece of equipment, an average of 200kWh. Some analysts have ventured to point out that this energy could keep a house lit for a whole month.

This is just one example of the energy consumption, and its derived cost, of electricity needed to mine bitcoins. In various cities around the world, where this activity is now common, electricity consumption has increased. In countries like the Czech Republic they talk about 100 % electricity consumption compared to Germany, for example, where the percentage is less than 20 %.

Those in favor of cryptocurrencies highlight characteristics such as the fact that they do not need to be printed, so there is no need for ink or deforestation to make paper money.

In any case, the issue of the carbon footprint that generates the high consumption of electricity required for crypto mining continues to be a subject of analysis for environmental defenders around the world.

M.Pino

With information from Agencies