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16.07.2025
Footprint of bitcoin mining
Since the introduction of bitcoin in 2009, a boom in cryptocurrencies was faced by the world partly due to the exponential growth in the value of bitcoin, as well as the emergence of new cryptocurrencies that, while the vast majority of them do not have the same impact as bitcoin, are still an indication relevant and standard use of this currency as investment and means of transaction.
Cryptocurrencies are becoming more popular and their turnover is growing as a large number of people have accumulated large sums of money through cryp- tocurrency mining. However, few people talk about the impact they have on the environment, so my aim in this paper will be to evaluate these effects and propose measures to address them.
Before I continue, it should be clarified that as I mentioned before, there are many cryptocurrencies in the world today besides Bitcoin, such as Ethereum, Binance Coin, Tether, Cardano, and many others, however, in this paper I will focus on Bitcoin because this cryptocurrency and Ethereum account for more than 60% of the market capitalization of crypto-assets. However, while Ethereum percentage of power consumption is 20 to 39% of the total consumption of crypto-assets, bit- coin percentage of consumption is 60 to 77 % (White House, 2022).
So, because of bitcoin’s higher power consumption, I will only focus on this cryptocurrency. This does not mean that the others do not pollute or that they are more environmentally friendly (with some exceptions, I will address later). The fact is that bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency that at the same time pollutes the environment more than others.
First, I would like to consider the question of how this cryptocurrency is gener- ated, which requires understanding what exactly bitcoin is and, more importantly, how “mining” bitcoin is performed, since it is this process that affects the environ- ment, not the cryptocurrency itself.
Bitcoin operates through the blockchain system that consists of a decentral- ized database acting as a sort of public financial registry. The information gener- ated in this database is stored on multiple computers connected to each other via the Internet and is upd ated online (Iberdrola, no date).
Blockchain works “by solving complex cryptographic problems to validate transactions or records” (Artiga and López, 2021). This confirmation process is based on consensus because all users of the network have access to the same information, hence everyone can confirm its validity. This system allows data to be recorded in unique blocks of information, making it easier to retrieve and confirm the same at any time (Iberdrola, no date).
The structure of the blockchain includes a bitcoin mining system called Proof of Work (POW) that works as follows: all computers mine bitcoins to see at the same time who will be the first to solve one of the possible cryptographic problems se t by the Bitcoin program, and the first person who manages to record a transaction gets bitcoin as a reward, and the more people competing for bitcoin, the more difficult problems they should solve to get more bitcoins as a reward (Iberdrola, no date).
As cryptographic tasks to be solved become more complex, there comes a need for computers and special equipment that consume large amounts of power to operate competitively (Jones, Goodkind and Berrens, 2022). At the same time, only one out of thousands of possible nodes will mine bitcoin, meaning that one computer will get the reward, the rest will only waste a large amount of power (Artiga and López, 2021).
There is so much power being consumed that, for example, in 2020, approxi- mately 75.4 TWh/year was consumed for bitcoin mining. This number does not tell us anything, but it is very impressive when you consider that the energy consump- tion of bitcoin mining was higher than that of entire countries such as Austria (69.9 TWh/year) or Portugal (48.4 TWh/year) over the same period (Jones, Goodkind and Berrens, 2022).
One might ask: what energy sources are used to generate so much power in bitcoin mining? While 39% of POW is produced using renewable sources, the remaining 61% is produced using non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels (Jones, Goodkind and Berrens, 2022).
Bitcoin is estimated to have produced 3 to 13 million cubic tons (MT) of car- bon between 2016 and 2018 (Krause and Tolaymat, 2018), which is equivalent to the emissions of small countries like Uruguay (6.51 MT), Senegal (10.68 MT) or Slo- venia (12.47 MT) in 2020 (World Bank, no date).
Even the use of renewable energy does not protect the environment from the harmful bitcoin, as hydroelectricity is the most used renewable energy source in
bitcoin mining, but it consumes a lot of water, so that due to the evaporation of liquid in power generation, it is estimated that 1.65 km³ of water was lost between 2020 and 2021, equivalent to 660,000 Olympic swimming pools (Chamanara, Ghaffarizadeh and Madani, 2023).
To end this essay positive, here are a number of possible measures by which cryptocurrency mining could be either prevented or, if this is not possible, the envi- ronmental impact of cryptocurrency mining could be reduced.
For example, governments of major bitcoin mining nations could take regulatory measures to discourage cryptocurrency mining, such as raising power prices for individuals or companies that are mining bitcoins, impos- ing taxes on cryptocurrency transactions, prohibiting mining for which non-renewable and polluting sources are used, etc. (Chamanara, Ghaffarizadeh and Madani, 2023).
Use of Proof of Stake system should also be encouraged. Broadly speaking, POS is a consensus-based system within a group of validators (who should prove that they own a certain amount of cryptocurrencies to be selected) chosen at ran- dom and responsible for validating blocks in the blockchain as well as transactions in exchange for a commission (Investopedia, 2023).
POS is a more environmentally-friendly system because blocks are val- idated by consensus rather than by solving a cryptographic problem as in the case of POW, eliminating the competition that causes so much useless energy to be generated. In addition, validators at POS do not need to have the large-scale energy-intensive equipment necessary to mine bitcoin, they only need to prove that they have the minimum amount of cryptocurrencies necessary to become validators (Investopedia, 2023).
So-called “green” cryptocurrencies based on the POS system already exist, so spreading this type of crypto-assets and government incentives to use them instead of POW-based cryptocurrencies could be another measure to mitigate the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining. Examples of green cryptocurren- cies include Cardano, Solarcoin, Nano, Algorand, and Bitgreen (Cryptomus, 2024). In conclusion, utilizing existing and future information and communication technologies is not a bad thing. Nevertheless, as we can conclude from our essay, it is important that their use be regulated, since everything that happens in the digital world affects our real life in its own way and has different kinds of consequences,
such as the environmental impact addressed in this article.
Cryptocurrencies are becoming more popular and their turnover is growing as a large number of people have accumulated large sums of money through cryp- tocurrency mining. However, few people talk about the impact they have on the environment, so my aim in this paper will be to evaluate these effects and propose measures to address them.
Before I continue, it should be clarified that as I mentioned before, there are many cryptocurrencies in the world today besides Bitcoin, such as Ethereum, Binance Coin, Tether, Cardano, and many others, however, in this paper I will focus on Bitcoin because this cryptocurrency and Ethereum account for more than 60% of the market capitalization of crypto-assets. However, while Ethereum percentage of power consumption is 20 to 39% of the total consumption of crypto-assets, bit- coin percentage of consumption is 60 to 77 % (White House, 2022).
So, because of bitcoin’s higher power consumption, I will only focus on this cryptocurrency. This does not mean that the others do not pollute or that they are more environmentally friendly (with some exceptions, I will address later). The fact is that bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency that at the same time pollutes the environment more than others.
First, I would like to consider the question of how this cryptocurrency is gener- ated, which requires understanding what exactly bitcoin is and, more importantly, how “mining” bitcoin is performed, since it is this process that affects the environ- ment, not the cryptocurrency itself.
Bitcoin operates through the blockchain system that consists of a decentral- ized database acting as a sort of public financial registry. The information gener- ated in this database is stored on multiple computers connected to each other via the Internet and is upd ated online (Iberdrola, no date).
Blockchain works “by solving complex cryptographic problems to validate transactions or records” (Artiga and López, 2021). This confirmation process is based on consensus because all users of the network have access to the same information, hence everyone can confirm its validity. This system allows data to be recorded in unique blocks of information, making it easier to retrieve and confirm the same at any time (Iberdrola, no date).
The structure of the blockchain includes a bitcoin mining system called Proof of Work (POW) that works as follows: all computers mine bitcoins to see at the same time who will be the first to solve one of the possible cryptographic problems se t by the Bitcoin program, and the first person who manages to record a transaction gets bitcoin as a reward, and the more people competing for bitcoin, the more difficult problems they should solve to get more bitcoins as a reward (Iberdrola, no date).
As cryptographic tasks to be solved become more complex, there comes a need for computers and special equipment that consume large amounts of power to operate competitively (Jones, Goodkind and Berrens, 2022). At the same time, only one out of thousands of possible nodes will mine bitcoin, meaning that one computer will get the reward, the rest will only waste a large amount of power (Artiga and López, 2021).
There is so much power being consumed that, for example, in 2020, approxi- mately 75.4 TWh/year was consumed for bitcoin mining. This number does not tell us anything, but it is very impressive when you consider that the energy consump- tion of bitcoin mining was higher than that of entire countries such as Austria (69.9 TWh/year) or Portugal (48.4 TWh/year) over the same period (Jones, Goodkind and Berrens, 2022).
One might ask: what energy sources are used to generate so much power in bitcoin mining? While 39% of POW is produced using renewable sources, the remaining 61% is produced using non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels (Jones, Goodkind and Berrens, 2022).
Bitcoin is estimated to have produced 3 to 13 million cubic tons (MT) of car- bon between 2016 and 2018 (Krause and Tolaymat, 2018), which is equivalent to the emissions of small countries like Uruguay (6.51 MT), Senegal (10.68 MT) or Slo- venia (12.47 MT) in 2020 (World Bank, no date).
Even the use of renewable energy does not protect the environment from the harmful bitcoin, as hydroelectricity is the most used renewable energy source in
bitcoin mining, but it consumes a lot of water, so that due to the evaporation of liquid in power generation, it is estimated that 1.65 km³ of water was lost between 2020 and 2021, equivalent to 660,000 Olympic swimming pools (Chamanara, Ghaffarizadeh and Madani, 2023).
To end this essay positive, here are a number of possible measures by which cryptocurrency mining could be either prevented or, if this is not possible, the envi- ronmental impact of cryptocurrency mining could be reduced.
For example, governments of major bitcoin mining nations could take regulatory measures to discourage cryptocurrency mining, such as raising power prices for individuals or companies that are mining bitcoins, impos- ing taxes on cryptocurrency transactions, prohibiting mining for which non-renewable and polluting sources are used, etc. (Chamanara, Ghaffarizadeh and Madani, 2023).
Use of Proof of Stake system should also be encouraged. Broadly speaking, POS is a consensus-based system within a group of validators (who should prove that they own a certain amount of cryptocurrencies to be selected) chosen at ran- dom and responsible for validating blocks in the blockchain as well as transactions in exchange for a commission (Investopedia, 2023).
POS is a more environmentally-friendly system because blocks are val- idated by consensus rather than by solving a cryptographic problem as in the case of POW, eliminating the competition that causes so much useless energy to be generated. In addition, validators at POS do not need to have the large-scale energy-intensive equipment necessary to mine bitcoin, they only need to prove that they have the minimum amount of cryptocurrencies necessary to become validators (Investopedia, 2023).
So-called “green” cryptocurrencies based on the POS system already exist, so spreading this type of crypto-assets and government incentives to use them instead of POW-based cryptocurrencies could be another measure to mitigate the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining. Examples of green cryptocurren- cies include Cardano, Solarcoin, Nano, Algorand, and Bitgreen (Cryptomus, 2024). In conclusion, utilizing existing and future information and communication technologies is not a bad thing. Nevertheless, as we can conclude from our essay, it is important that their use be regulated, since everything that happens in the digital world affects our real life in its own way and has different kinds of consequences,
such as the environmental impact addressed in this article.
Desde la aparición de Bitcoin en el año 2009 hasta la actualidad el mundo ha presenciado un boom en el mundo de las criptodivisas, gracias por un parte al aumento exponencial al valor de Bitcoin, como por el surgimiento de nuevas criptomonedas, que si bien la gran mayoría de estas no tiene el mismo impacto y uso que tiene Bitcoin, sigue siendo un indicador de cuan relevante y normalizado se ha vuelto el uso de este tipo de divisas tanto para inversiones como para transacciones.
Si las criptodivisas se han popularizado y ha aumentado su uso es por una razón y esto es a la gran cantidad de personas que han amasado grandes cantidades de dinero a partir de la minería de criptomonedas, sin embargo, poco se habla del impacto que estas tienen en el ambiente, por lo que, mi objetivo con este trabajo será el de determinar cuales son estas repercusiones y que puede hacerse para contrarrestarlas.
Antes de proseguir debo hacer una aclaración, como ya mencioné actualmente existen una gran cantidad de criptodivisas alrededor del mundo aparte de Bitcoin como puede ser Ethereum, Binance Coin, Tether, Cardano, entre muchas otras, no obstante, en este trabajo me voy a centrar en Bitcoin ya que entre esta criptomoneda y Ethereum representan juntas más del 60% de mercado de capitalización de cripto-activos, sin embargo, mientras el porcentaje de consumo eléctrico de Ethereum representa entre el 20 al 39% del consumo total eléctrico de cripto-activos, Bitcoin tiene un porcentaje de consumo del 60 al 77% (White House, 2022).
Por lo que, debido al mayor consumo de electricidad que genera Bitcoin me enfocaré únicamente en esta criptodivisa, esto no quiere decir que el resto no generen contaminación o que sean más sustentables (salvo contadas excepciones las cuales retomaré más adelante), pero esta claro que Bitcoin es por lejos la criptomoneda más utilizada y la que más contamina a la vez.
Antes de comenzar hay que dejar en claro cómo es que esta criptodivisa se genera, para lo cual es necesario entender qué es exactamente el Bitcoin y, más importante aún, cómo se lleva a cabo el proceso de “minado” del Bitcoin, pues es realmente este proceso el que genera la mayor parte de la contaminación y no la criptomoneda en sí misma.
Bitcoin funciona a través de un sistema de blockchain el cual consiste en una base de datos descentralizada que actúa como una especie de libro de contabilidad financiera público, la información generada en esta base de datos es almacenada en múltiples computadoras conectadas entre sí a través de internet cuya información es actualizada en tiempo real (Iberdrola, s/f).
El funcionamiento del blockchain se “basa en la solución de problemas criptográficos complejos para validar las transacciones o registros” (Artiga y López, 2021), dicho proceso de validación se basa en el consenso pues todos los integrantes de la red tienen acceso a la misma información, por lo que todos pueden confirmar que es verídica, siendo este un sistema que posibilita que los datos sean registrados en los bloques de información únicos lo que facilita su recuperación y verificación en cualquier momento (Iberdrola, s/f).
Dentro de esta estructura del blockchain se encuentra el sistema de minado del Bitcoin, este sistema se denomina Prueba de Trabajo (POW) y consiste en que: todas las computadoras dedicadas a minar Bitcoin se someten a una competencia simultanea para ver cuál es la primera en resolver uno de los posibles problemas criptográficos que presenta el software de Bitcoin, por lo que la primer persona que consiga registrar una transacción recibe como recompensa un Bitcoin y, a medida que más personas compiten por Bitcoin más complejos se vuelven los problemas que deben resolver para poder ser recompensados con más Bitcoin (Iberdrola, s/f).
Al complejizarse los problemas criptográficos a resolver, se vuelve necesario el uso de computadoras y equipamiento especializado que utiliza una gran cantidad de energía eléctrica para que estos operen de forma competitiva (Jones, Goodkind y Berrens, 2022), por otro lado, solo uno de los miles de nodos posibles conseguirá el Bitcoin, por lo que, mientras una computadora se verá recompensada, el resto solo habrán generado una gran cantidad de energía en vano (Artiga y López, 2021).
Este uso de la electricidad es tan elevado que, por ejemplo, en el año 2020 la minería por Bitcoin generó un estimado de 75.4 TWh/año, este número por si solo no nos dice nada, pero es muy impactante si consideramos que el consumo de energía por minería de Bitcoin fue mayor al de países enteros como el caso de Austria (69.9 TWh/año) o Portugal (48.4TWh/año) durante el mismo periodo de tiempo (Jones, Goodkind y Berrens, 2022).
Ahora, la cuestión aquí es: ¿Cuáles son las fuentes de energía utilizadas para producir tal cantidad de electricidad en el minado de Bitcoin? Mientras el 39% de POW en el minado de Bitcoin se realiza con energías renovables, el 61% restante se realiza con energías no renovables como combustible fósil (Jones, Goodkind y Berrens, 2022).
Se estima que en el periodo entre 2016 y 2018, Bitcoin generó un aproximado de entre 3 y 13 millones de toneladas (MT) cúbicas de carbono (Krause y Tolaymat, 2018), esta cantidad es equivalente a la generada por países pequeños como Uruguay (6.51MT), Senegal (10.68MT) o Eslovenia (12.47MT) en el año 2020 (Banco Mundial, s/f).
Ni si quiera el uso de energías renovables salva a Bitcoin de provocar daños ambientales, pues la energía hidroeléctrica es la energía renovable más utilizada dentro de la minería de Bitcoin, sin embargo, esta fuente tiene serios impactos en el consumo de agua, debido a las pérdidas de esta debido a su evaporación al generar la energía eléctrica, se estima que tan solo en el periodo 2020-2021 se perdieron 1.65 km³ de agua, o el equivalente a llenar 660,000 albercas olímpicas (Chamanara, Ghaffarizadeh y Madani, 2023).
Para terminar este ensayo de manera más positiva, voy a nombrar algunas posibles acciones que podrían ser puestas en práctica para, ya sea desincentivar el minado de criptodivisas, o en caso de no ser posible, reducir el impacto ambiental de las mismas.
Por una parte, los gobiernos de los principales Estados mineros en Bitcoin podrían implementar políticas con medidas regulatorias que desincentiven el minado de criptodivisas como: aumentar los precios de la electricidad a aquellas personas o empresas que se detecte son mineras de Bitcoin, impuestos en las transacciones con criptodivisas, prohibir el minado con fuentes no renovables y contaminantes, etc. (Chamanara, Ghaffarizadeh y Madani, 2023).
Igualmente, se debería incentivar el uso de criptodivisas que utilicen el sistema de Prueba de Participación. El POS es a grandes rasgos un sistema que funciona a partir del consenso, este consenso se hace entre un grupo de validadores (los cuales para ser elegidos deben probar que poseen cierta cantidad de criptodivisas) elegidos al azar encargados de verificar los bloques dentro de la blockchain así como las transacciones a cambio de una comisión (Investopedia, 2023).
El POS es un sistema más amigable con el medio ambiente ya que al ser validados los bloques por un consenso en lugar de la resolución de un problema criptográfico, como es en el caso del POW, se elimina el elemento competitivo que provoca que se genere tanta energía desperdiciada, además de que los validadores en el POS no requieren contar con los grandes equipos consumidores de energía necesarios para el minado de Bitcoin, solo deben de probar que cuentan con el mínimo de criptodivisas requerido para ser validadores (Investopedia, 2023).
Ya existen criptodivisas basadas en el sistema POS, las denominadas criptomonedas “verdes” por lo que, la difusión de este tipo de cripto activos, así como el incentivar a utilizarlos en lugar de las criptodivisas que utilizan el POW por parte de los gobiernos podría ser otra forma de disminuir el impacto ambiental generado por la minería de criptodivisas. Algunos ejemplos de criptomonedas verdes son: Cardano, Solarcoin, Nano, Algorand y Bitgreen (Cryptomus, 2024).
A forma de conclusión, solo me restaría añadir que el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación ya existentes y que se puedan desarrollar de cara al futuro, no son algo inherentemente malo, sin embargo, y como se pudo visualizar a lo largo de este trabajo, si es indispensable que se haga un uso responsable y regulado de las mismas, pues todo lo que ocurre en el mundo digital tiene distintos tipos de repercusiones en nuestra vida real que nos pueden afectar de distintas maneras como la cuestión del impacto medioambiental que aquí se ha establecido.
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