Interestingly, just as green finance and investments are beginning to take off in a huge way (+£100bn in green bonds issued this year and growing fast), Bitcoin comes along and starts consuming energy at this kind of rate. I hadn't understood this issue.
What will be the limiting factor for the massively rising price of bitcoin - the bubble just bursts commercially or the green lobby gets behind a campaign to stop it for its destructive effects on the planet, due to the sheer processing power needed?
Time will tell but I know where my money is going...
As Bitcoin continues its stride towards mainstream adoption, it turns out that its surging price rates are not the only thing experiencing a sudden increase. New research indicates that the popular cryptocurrency now consumes more electricity than more than 20 countries in Europe. Researchers from British energy price comparison platform Power Compare have discovered that the total volume of electricity required for mining Bitcoin – the computational process that keeps transactions on the blockchain moving – now amounts to more consumption than 159 individual countries.
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2017/11/23/bitcoin-mining-electricity-africa/
