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Coins that you can not have a sight of and can not be touched with hands, rather they are numbers and symbols that you find on the computer screen. Each currency has its own symbol or a sign, but not being able to touch or see tells that it does not affect our environment. Right ?
Digital money, highlighting Bitcoin, has achieved widespread popularity in most parts of the world after major investments done by Elon Musk, who promoted the use of digital currency and also invested $1.5 Billion in it, encouraging more people to trade with the digital currency.
But a storm has hit the cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, Just after Elon Musk stopped considering cryptocurrency as a way to buy Tesla cars and China imposing new restrictions on the crypto use.
The question that comes to our mind is how this virtual currency is affecting the climate and hence the environment.
The answer to this is cryptocurrency mining.
BITCOIN MINING:
It is the process of creating new currency with the help of computers to solve algorithms and deciphering complicated mathematical codes. Miners record and save the date and transactions in accounting chains, popularly known as “blockchain”, very similar to the LEDGER we use in accounting.
The cryptocurrency is not under the control of governments, that means it is decentralized and it is being updated constantly by the network of computers.
On average, the time to mine one bitcoin is between 5-10 minutes. The problem arrives when we come to know that creating one bitcoin requires a lot of electrical energy as the work is constantly being done on a large number of computer networks and the increasing demand of the bitcoin has caused much more increase in the electricity usage.
CHINA AND CARBON:
At the beginning, miners could use their own computers to work with cryptocurrency but due to high demands, new hardwares had to be established resulting in more power consumption.
China mines upto 75% of the bitcoin and most of the electricity supplied in China is made through the coal, meaning most of the electrical energy consumed for the purpose of mining comes from harmful to the environment. The higher the price of bitcoin, the higher the amount of energy consumed as well, thus contributing to high environmental pollution and use of carbon.
THE FUTURE OF CRYPTOCURRENCY:
It has been said and promised that Elon Musk would again allow the use of cryptocurrency for the buying of Tesla cars once there comes a more efficient and effective way to conserve the natural resources to save the Earth. The better way to produce electricity for the sole purpose of Bitcoin mining might be the use of Solar energy or Wind energy.
The expectations are still high and people are not compromising on their trade of the cryptocurrency.
