Ever since the rise of bitcoin in 2015, many things have changed. There have been many complications and fingers pointed towards the bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency mining industry after the ban of mining operations in China in 2021. Cryptocurrencies were considered a threat to the financial system. But, it is also not so good for the environment. The partial reason for China banning the cryptocurrency mining operations was partially the environmental concerns.
Even though some crucial personalities help mining companies shift to other countries, they are now concerned about the environment. Most of the bitcoin mining companies which went away from China have shifted their operational offices to the United States of America, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. However, these countries have been the center of carbon emissions because of increased cryptocurrency mining operations.
Earlier, everyone said China is being paranoid while banning cryptocurrency mining operations altogether over environmental concerns. However, due to the decision of China, the whole industry went through the chaos. It was a fact that because of the ban of mining operations in China for bitcoin, the whole bitcoin is going to collapse, but this did not happen at the-news-spy.net. Instead, they shifted their operation to other countries like Kazakhstan and Russia, and now, they have become the center of operation.
In 2020, China was home to about 65% of the global bitcoin production as per the University of Cambridge. However, after banning the bitcoin mining operations for several reasons, China’s energy consumption decreased significantly. China aims to decrease the carbon emissions entirely by 2060, and it is undoubtedly going to be achieved if the mining operations are kept banned entirely there.
China and other nations in the world believe BTC mining to be hazardous. According to Cambridge University, bitcoin has been consuming a lot of energy worldwide. As per the latest reports, bitcoin mining operations consume 133.63 TB of energy every year. It is undoubtedly more than the energy consumption of some huge countries like Ukraine and Norway.
The figures stated here are 66 times more than the energy consumption of bitcoin mining operations compared to 2015. Indeed, the data is alarming, and therefore, essential steps are necessary to be taken in this department. If the mining operations keep increasing at such a high speed, the day is not far when we will suffer an electricity blackout.
Kazakhstan with the country which initially invited cryptocurrency mining companies to relocate from China but now, they are also looking at the world situation of the country. Earlier, the tax regulations were straightforward, and also, coal power was available at very cheap rates. Because of all this, Kazakhstan became the holder of 1/5 global bitcoin mining production last winter. However, the situation is now getting worse. Due to cryptocurrency mining companies’ increasing electricity demand. This winter, it is experiencing a lot of emergency blackouts in the power grids. The government is also looking forward to imposing limits on the power supply to the bitcoin mining companies.
Even if the bitcoin mining ecosystem decides to go for renewable energy sources, it will not make it to the future. Some countries are entirely running on renewable sources for the energy supply and against bitcoin mining and other cryptocurrency operations. For example, Iceland, which is almost running entirely on renewable energy sources, will not welcome cryptocurrency mining operations at all. They have entirely said that they are looking forward to proposing European Union to ban cryptocurrency mining operations completely in its countries.
Sweden has also favored Iceland and has not welcomed any cryptocurrency mining companies to its borders. It says that the cryptocurrency mining companies do siphon all the energy from other productive industries, and therefore, the others are facing energy blackouts. As mining consumes a lot of energy, it should be banned altogether.
Also, many other countries are not in favor of accepting bitcoin in any way. For example, El Salvador accepted bitcoin, and now, the international monetary fund is advising it to drop the idea of bitcoins altogether. Hence, the problem of carbon emissions due to bitcoin mining operations is not close to an end. Important steps by different countries are necessary so that the degradation of the whole environment system can be stable.