Crypto Decrypted

8Myth – Crypto Is Bad for the Environment

Like many of our colleagues in the crypto investing world, we feel strongly that our sector has the potential to lead in mitigating climate change. I understand that may sound like an oxymoron, but it's not.  We absolutely believe blockchain can be a major positive factor.  That's why it's frustrating to read headlines like “Bitcoin is a disaster for the planet.” Slow down, cowboy. We need to agree on some basic facts before we start hardening our positions and making business and policy decisions that will determine the future of our economy and planet.

Before we point out the underreported benefits of the crypto sector for climate change, energy conservation, and emerging adaptations for energy sustainability, we won't soft‐soap the facts.  We're not going to underestimate the scope of the issue or the concerns about crypto assets' impact on energy use – they are real and we acknowledge that. That's where some advocates mess up. The crypto sector represents a massive transformation of the global economy and, yes, some hard issues must be addressed, which we can do within the industry and within the scientific and policy community. Bitcoin uses a lot of energy. There, we said it. Now that the not‐so‐genie is out of the bottle, let's explore some additional implications.

Bitcoin Energy Consumption

In order to accomplish this, we'll turn to a comprehensive and exceedingly well‐crafted new federal report, “Climate and Energy Implications ...