Bill Gates Sounds Alarm On Bitcoin's Energy Consumption–Here's Why Crypto Is Bad For Climate Change
forbes.com
Mar 9, 2021,02:01pm EST
KEY FACTS
"Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind,” Gates told the New York Times in a recent interview, calling himself a "bitcoin skeptic," and adding that "it’s not a great climate thing.”
To Gates' point, Alex de Vries, a data scientist at the Dutch Central Bank, estimates that each bitcoin transaction requires an average 300 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2)–equivalent to the carbon footprint produced by roughly 750,000 Visa swipes.
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SURPRISING FACTA single bitcoin transaction uses roughly 707.6 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy–equivalent to the power consumed by an average U.S. household over 24 days, according to Digiconomist. On a yearly basis, bitcoin consumes more energy than all but 38 countries, falling in line with countries like Finland, Chile and Austria. |
