The analysis does not minimize the energy consumption of BTC, it compares it to other industries. The researchers stated that Bitcoin has balanced requirements when it comes to energy consumption.
The international banking system and the gold industry use more than twice the energy that the Bitcoin (BTC) network needs to function. An investigation by the financial services firm, Galaxy Digital, estimated that banks and activities to generate the metal require more than 500 terawatt-hours (TW / H) per year, that is, the same amount of energy that Germany needs per year.
In the case of banks, analysts talked about the energy required to keep ATMs, branches, data centers of card issuers, and the banking data centers themselves operational. In total, this traditional finance sector needs around 238.9 TW / H per year, which is equivalent to the annual consumption in countries like Spain.
Gold production, ranging from mining, milling, to smelting, would consume about 240.6 TW / H per year, the same amount that Australia consumes, roughly. In the case of gold, analysts also included other polluting emissions such as jewelry, use in electronic devices, and even how these activities are creating a vast impact on world business.
Bitcoin Energy Consumption When Compared to Other Consumptions
The energy consumption of the network for Bitcoin would be about 113.9 TW / H, a little less than the annual consumption of nordic countries like Sweden. For BTC, the energy use of the miners, mining pools, and participating nodes were the samples to achieve such conclusions.
Given the transparency of Bitcoin, its energy use is easier to study and measure. This gives rise to frequent criticisms, but these criticisms are rarely made of other traditional industries. Bitcoin is compared to the traditional banking system and gold, but the energy use of these industries is opaque as they do not publicly disclose their energy footprint, ‘the researchers noted.
One aspect to consider is that the researchers do not minimize the energy consumption that Bitcoin needs to exist. The data collected serves to set better comparisons between BTC and other industries, which are related to the first cryptocurrency and its decentralized digital system.
The report highlighted that in the future humans will keep creating new and better technologies that require more energy and that Bitcoin is proof of this. The Galaxy Digital study was part of the debate on energy use in Bitcoin. Recently the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, announced that the company will no longer accept bitcoin as a means of payment because it is causing serious damage to the environment.
This shift on Bitcoin, as a digital system and cryptocurrency, not only questions Musk’s head-on after praising it, but it would also displace it from his plans, as Tesla will study the use of other digital assets with less energy consumption.
By: Jenson Nuñez
