One of the main controversial aspects of cryptocurrencies emergence is its negative impact on the environment. Today, many conservationists, activists, and even politicians believe that it is impossible to get an environmental benefit from cryptocurrencies. Moreover, digital money causes irreparable harm to our planet. Can this be changed?
The main threat to our environment is not the cryptocurrency itself, but the method of its production is mining, during which special equipment (ASIC processor or video card) tries to solve a complex computational problem and get a unique “code”. This “code” will help close the “block” or list with all transactions in the cryptocurrency network. For finding the key to the block, ermine receives a reward in the form of a cryptocurrency.
A lot of resources are involved in the production of cryptocurrency, primarily electricity. The more cryptocurrencies are mined and the higher the price of a crypto asset becomes, the more difficult it is to mine cryptocurrencies. Therefore, the complexity of mining is constantly growing. The amount of electricity that is spent for the production of cryptocurrency, respectively, also increases. And at the moment, the scale of mining is amazing. Almost 1% of all electricity consumed on our planet comes from BTC mining.
Industrial mining can harm the environment due to the high consumption of electricity, as a result, the release of heat and carbon dioxide. This may lead to global warming and climate change on the planet in the future. To determine the degree of damage, each case must be considered separately. For example, Iceland is one of the largest mining centers. It is quite cold there and electricity is produced in an environmentally friendly way – with the help of hydropower and geothermal stations. Therefore, it can be said that in this region the environment does not suffer from mining. At the same time, in China, with its unfavorable environment, mining only aggravates the situation. Therefore China banned this type of activity last year.
It turns out that cryptocurrencies are dangerous for humanity and should we abandon them? Not really! There are alternative ways to mine cryptocurrency that do not harm the environment in any way. Many of them are not used now. But in the future, with the advances in technology, it will not be difficult for us to “mine” cryptocurrency safely. To prove this, it is enough to notice a simple thing. Already today, we can observe the first real examples of bitcoin mining on completely environmentally friendly, renewable energy!
The pioneers in ecological mining use the energy of the sun, wind, and hydrogen. Such energy is safe for the environment and economically beneficial for mining. “Digital Gold” will be an incentive to start using renewable energy sources around the world and will give a real impetus to the development of this industry.
Today, it is seen, that the world has every chance to make cryptocurrency completely environmentally friendly soon. This is possible thanks to companies that switch to renewable energy and thus set an example for others. One of these representatives is the GreenHashes company: the guys are engaged in cloud mining on completely green electricity. Cloud mining allows everyone to rent part of the power of a large mining farm, and thus mine cryptocurrency.
Miners from GreenHashes are among the first who switched to ecological mining: taking care of nature, allowing everyone to become part of this ecosystem, and start mining cryptocurrency. To use the mining services of the future, just go to the GreenHashes website, get acquainted with the type of their services, select acontract (they differ in the validity period, amount of power, and referral bonus level), pay for it in Bitcoin (which makes the system as safe and accessible as possible for everyone) and start accumulating cryptocurrency on your account. The platform is suitable for both beginners and professional investors.