Every Bitcoin Payment 'Uses a Swimming Pool of Water'
upstart writes:
That's around six million times more than is used in a typical credit card swipe, Alex de Vries of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, calculates.
The figure is due to the water used to power and cool the millions of computers worldwide Bitcoin relies on.
It comes as many regions struggle with fresh water shortages.
[...] In total, bitcoin consumed nearly 1,600 billion litres - also known as gigalitres (GL) - of water in 2021, the study, published in the journal Cell Reports Sustainability, suggests.
It says the 2023 figure could be more than 2,200 GL.
The main reason Bitcoin uses so much water is because it relies on an enormous amount of computing power, which in turn needs huge amounts of electricity.
[...] Mr de Vries argues that Bitcoin does not need to use this much water - singling out the power hungry process at its heart, which is known as "Bitcoin mining."
[...] This method is known as "proof of work". But a change to the way Bitcoin works could cut the electricity use and hence water consumption dramatically.
The major cryptocurrency Ethereum did this in Sep 2022, moving to a system called "proof of stake", reducing its power-use by more than 99% in the process.
That may not be straightforward though, according to Prof James Davenport, of the University of Bath.
"[It was] only possible because the management of Ethereum is significantly more centralised than that of Bitcoin," he told the BBC.
Nonetheless, others say the findings of this research are worrying.
Dr Larisa Yarovaya, associate professor of finance at the University of Southampton, she said the use of freshwater for Bitcoin mining, particularly in regions already grappling with water scarcity, "should be a cause for concern among regulators and the public".
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