Cryptocurrency brings a whole host of problems, with many pointing to its enormously energy hungry processes as a prime cause for concern. In spite of the fact that this is the case, it turns out that water consumption is yet another issue that might arise as a result of cryptocurrency mining, and a report published in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability revealed just how serious things are getting.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this is the first proper report that analyzed how much water cryptocurrency mining tends to use. With a global water crisis rapidly starting to come about, the scale of water consumption through crypto mining is dangers because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up reducing drinking water.
According to Alex de Vries, a financial economist and PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam that authored this report, freshwater is starting to become an increasingly scarce resource. Countries that are already facing droughts and water shortages such as the US will be in for a rough time if the current trend persists with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Computing power and electricity consumption are both things that people are well aware of when it comes it Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency. With 350 quintillion guesses being made per second in order to crack puzzles that can allow miners to receive a reward, energy consumption is bound to be sky high.
However, it also bears mentioning that the data centers that make these guesses require massive quantities of water in order to cool them down and prevent them from overheating. Based on the findings presented in this report, just Bitcoin mining alone uses anywhere from 8.6 to 35.1 billion liters of water each and every year in the US.
If we take the scope worldwide, Bitcoin mining used up 1.6 trillion liters of water. A single Bitcoin transaction uses about 16,000 liters of water. Furthermore, if water used in coal fired power plants is factored in, Bitcoin mining uses as much water as the city of Washington D.C., which reveals just how sustainable this industry is as of right now. Major changes will need to be made in order to make it more sustainable.
Read next: ChatGPT Could Be Using Your Personal Information For Training Purposes, Researchers Claim After Surprise Attack On The Chatbot
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this is the first proper report that analyzed how much water cryptocurrency mining tends to use. With a global water crisis rapidly starting to come about, the scale of water consumption through crypto mining is dangers because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up reducing drinking water.
According to Alex de Vries, a financial economist and PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam that authored this report, freshwater is starting to become an increasingly scarce resource. Countries that are already facing droughts and water shortages such as the US will be in for a rough time if the current trend persists with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Computing power and electricity consumption are both things that people are well aware of when it comes it Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency. With 350 quintillion guesses being made per second in order to crack puzzles that can allow miners to receive a reward, energy consumption is bound to be sky high.
However, it also bears mentioning that the data centers that make these guesses require massive quantities of water in order to cool them down and prevent them from overheating. Based on the findings presented in this report, just Bitcoin mining alone uses anywhere from 8.6 to 35.1 billion liters of water each and every year in the US.
If we take the scope worldwide, Bitcoin mining used up 1.6 trillion liters of water. A single Bitcoin transaction uses about 16,000 liters of water. Furthermore, if water used in coal fired power plants is factored in, Bitcoin mining uses as much water as the city of Washington D.C., which reveals just how sustainable this industry is as of right now. Major changes will need to be made in order to make it more sustainable.
Read next: ChatGPT Could Be Using Your Personal Information For Training Purposes, Researchers Claim After Surprise Attack On The Chatbot
