One point of continual criticism when it comes to cryptocurrency is the outrageous amounts of energy that are needed to continually process transactions. The dialogue around sustainability within blockchain started when people began to look into the energy consumption of Bitcoin, with the high figures shocking many investors.

As of May 2021, Bitcoin was using more energy than entire countries, beating out Norway, Bangladesh, Switzerland, and many more in consumption. As Bitcoin is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency, which means computers have to solve complex mathematical problems to mine the next block in the chain, lots of energy is consumed as these computers ferociously process.

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Comparably, the annualized impact of Bitcoin cannot be understated, with power consumption equal to that of Thailand, a carbon footprint equal to that of the Czech Republic, and small IT waste equal to that of the Netherlands. 

Even looking at single transactions, one bitcoin transaction would consume the same amount of energy as a U.S. household does in almost 72 days. That relative carbon footprint would be like watching almost 200,000 hours of Youtube, which is over 8,300 days, or almost 23 years. 

With the overwhelming emissions, electrical energy consumption, and electronic waste, it’s no wonder that cryptocurrency companies are turning to ways to reduce their emissions. 

How Green is BItcoin?

While Bitcoin consumes a lot of energy, one little-known fact was that in 2017, the vast majority of that energy actually came from green sources. 74% of the global energy supply that was consumed by Bitcoin came directly from green sources, with the majority being siphoned from hydropower in China.

However, a major spanner was thrown into the works in 2021, when the Chinese…