Instead, participants in the bitcoin network “mine”, or compete to solve cryptographic puzzles to generate more of the currency. How does bitcoin cause environmental damage?īecause cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are not centralized, there is no singular authority or body to verify transactions. Though not commonly done, bitcoin can be used to buy material goods. It is managed and traded on a public, open ledger known as a “blockchain” that records all bitcoin transactions. What is bitcoin?īitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, a decentralized form of currency that is strictly digital rather than physical – unlike dollars, pounds or euros. So now more than ever, we need their help,” said Rolf Skar, campaign director at Greenpeace USA, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. “It’s a big step for a financial institution like Fidelity to launch their own crypto platform. Some are hoping that they can persuade those institutions to try to lessen the impact of crypto-mining. The artifact is a project of artist Benjamin Von Wong and is a reference to the massive amounts of carbon emitted from mining the cryptocurrency bitcoin, an endeavor Fidelity is now pursuing.īitcoin is chiefly known as a wild investment vehicle that – along with many other cryptocurrencies – can seemingly make or lose fortunes overnight in a market where values go up and down quickly and by large margins.īut what worries environmentalists and others is the huge amount of electricity used in generating bitcoin and other such currencies – energy that often traces back to fossil fuels and so has a corresponding impact on the climate crisis.Īs major financial brands speculate in the cryptocurrency world, environmental campaigners want to make sure they know that they are not just taking a financial gamble there is also an environmental risk.
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