Study finds bitcoin could take global warming over two degrees – crypto experts call it fake news

Bitcoin is built on a system where so-called “miners” use computer power to secure and verify the bitcoin network. It is a process that requires a lot of electricity. Many therefore say that bitcoin is unsustainable just because of the high power consumption.

Now, a study by the University of Hawaii at Manoa show that bitcoin mining can be a contributing factor to the earth’s temperature rising more than two degrees, a figure many experts say is critical to the earth’s long-term sustainability.

The study is based on how much electricity bitcoin mining requires today and assumes that the bitcoin implementation will follow the pattern of how other new technologies emerged and implemented in different societies.

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Global warming over two degrees

According to the study, a bitcoin implementation at the same rate as other new technologies could lead to emissions that contribute to global warming going above the level of a two-degree increase by 2033.

“We cannot predict the future of bitcoin, but if implemented at a rate even close to the slowest pace at which other technologies have been incorporated, it will spell very bad news for climate change and the people and species impacted by it”, said Camilo Mora, professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa, according to the university’s website.

The study gets criticized

However, the study gets tough criticism from people in the crypto world. Among other, the early bitcoin developer Peter Todd has on his Twitter account strongly criticized the study. He calls it “fake news” and that the mainstream media spreading the article is either incompetent or commit fraud.

“Any time you see someone calculating bitcoin’s energy usage like this they’re either incompetent or a fraud”, Peter Todd writes on Twitter.

Another person who has criticized the study is Nic Carter, co-founder of the crypto company Coinmetrics. On Twitter, he writes that the study is not based on what the reality looks like.

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