Environmental issues due to Bitcoin mining
Mining is one of the most inevitable features of Bitcoin. Only after mining was introduced in Bitcoin, many other cryptocurrencies were introduced with a similar concept. Some cryptocurrencies are operating without a mining algorithm instead of with a fixed inflation or supply. Some cryptocurrencies have adopted the concept of Bitcoin and have been providing incentives to people who are mining with the help of powerful GPUs and CPUs in some cases. Even though this concept is very good and helps in the decentralization of the coin, it is also doing some harm to the ecosystem.
problem's difficulty, Proof of Work is the concept behind a block creation in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This involves the node operator solving a complex mathematical problem to come up with a solution and the block is created with that. In the case of Bitcoin, this involves a powerful computer with a strong GPU and other resources. In the case of other coins, it might as well need a CPU for the calculation. The difficulty of the problem keeps increasing over the years and the complexity also increases which can take more time to arrive at the solution. This will require strong computational power and to operate the computer, it will also need strong energy input.
It is believed that this activity creates a lot of issues for the environment. There are many big mining farms set up in various countries and people have been mining Bitcoin and Ethereum through these mining farms. It not only requires computational power but also requires a lot of energy that is mostly from fossil fuels. Research works are going to find out if these mining farms can be operated with the help of renewable resources or not but still, there would be carbon footprints in one way or the other.
Electronic waste and hardware waste
There are so many drawbacks to this technology. This article is not to discuss only the drawbacks but we have to accept that there are environmental issues because of bitcoin mining. When mining equipment is used, it can last only for a few years, and after a few years, the equipment either stops working or becomes outdated. With the competition this industry is currently having, there is a considerable possibility for such hardware waste. Sometimes old hardware is sold to gamers and it is used by gamers for further gaming needs but not all the hardware gets a proper disposal and it finally becomes an electronic waste harming the environment.
Renewable energy for more profits
It is also believed that renewable energy is a better solution compared to burning fossil fuels to get energy. Many farms have already started exploring this option and they have started finding renewable energy sources to operate these mining farms. Sometimes it is argued that even renewable energy creation involves lots of pre-work where the equipment created for that still makes use of non-renewable resources. But compared to regular use of other non-renewable resources this can be a good solution that would last at least for 25 years. This not only does good for the environment but also increases the profits for the investors.
Compromises for the long-term benefit
People argue that despite the environmental impact, it is still good to keep going because Bitcoin provides a long-term benefit to the early birds. Those who are investing now would get greater outcomes in the long run because after a few years or even after a decade, there is a high possibility that the world might move towards this technology and the initial investment done on this would be very useful later. Considering the fact that this is going to give a lot of advantages later, people are okay to compromise the environmental issues for now. Hopefully, they find some sustainable solution that shouldn't disturb the environment so much. If this technology is for humans, we shouldn't reach a state where there are not enough humans to adopt this technology.
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