(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists have long known that bitcoin is bad for the environment. However, a new study has shown that cryptocurrency mining is comparable in terms of harm to the planet with the meat industry and oil production.
In a new study published in Scientific Reports , scientists set out to find out how bitcoin is damaging the environment according to three criteria: whether the estimated climate damage is increasing over time, whether the market value of the cryptocurrency has exceeded this damage, and how much this total damage compares to other sectors.
The researchers looked at data generated from bitcoin mining from January 2016 to December 2021.
Bitcoin and beef
The results of the analysis showed that bitcoin’s climate damage is on average 35% of its market value. This result is between the production of beef (33%) and the consumption of gasoline (41%).
Bitcoin turned out to be less dangerous for the Earth than the production of electricity from natural gas (46%).
At the same time, the researchers note that the extraction of digital currency every year causes more and more harm to the planet.
“We find no evidence that bitcoin mining becomes more sustainable over time. Rather, our results suggest otherwise: Bitcoin mining is getting dirtier and more climate-damaging over time.
In short, Bitcoin’s ecological footprint is heading in the wrong direction,” the authors of the analysis conclude.
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