Bitcoin Mining Uses Less Energy Than Gold, but Governments Think BTC Poses More Environmental Threats.
Over the past few years, global regulators have complained about the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining activity, saying the cryptocurrency niche has the potential to cause blackouts in major cities.
As a result of the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining, several countries have called for complete regulation of the activity in a bid to prevent any further abuse.
However, the call to regulate Bitcoin mining due to energy concerns is not the same for other activities that consume much more energy than Bitcoin.
Per recent data, on a yearly basis, Bitcoin uses 183 million Gigajoules (GJ) for the mining of the cryptocurrency, which is valued at $4.5 billion annually.
Interestingly, other activities like gold mining, gold recycling, and minting of paper currency consume 475 million GJ, 25 million GJ, and 39 million GJ worth of energy, respectively.
While governments from various parts of the world seem really troubled about the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining caused by BTC’s energy consumption, these countries have been silent so far, giving hints that there could be more to these complaints.
Understandably, regulators believe Bitcoin poses a risk to the global financial system following its widespread adoption, but calling for stringent regulations on BTC that could hinder the growth of the asset class will only do more harm than good to investors.
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