The White House would like to get to the bottom of this whole “is cryptocurrency going to destroy the climate or not” thing. The Office of Science and Technology Policy announced it’s putting together a report that assesses whether digital assets “impede or advance efforts to tackle climate change” and makes moves toward a “clean and reliable electricity grid.”
The potential environmental impact of crypto is a favorite topic for crypto haters far and wide. Bitcoin is an easy target because its global network of proof of work miners is said to generate a carbon footprint about the size of the Czech Republic. That sounds really big. Would it surprise you to learn that Amazon’s carbon footprint is estimated to be bigger?
It would be awesome to have data from a group of independent, academically rigorous studies to help us understand the environmental impact of our digital lives. I’m not sure what it would change, but it might help us focus our energy (pun intended).
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.