4 ms·
A great comparison I've heard is 'how much energy is required to mine one bitcoin's worth of gold'? I haven't seen a figure, and as gold's negative externalitie
by SuoDuanDao 6y ago
A great comparison I've heard is 'how much energy is required to mine one bitcoin's worth of gold'? I haven't seen a figure, and as gold's negative externalities are more about groundwater pollution than CO2e it wouldn't tell the whole story, but it would still be an interesting comparison.
- saalweachter 6y agoGold is about 0.8 tons / troy oz. Given the current exchange rate of ~30 troy oz / BTC, that's 24 tons of CO2 / one-bitcoin-worth-of-gold. At current mining rewards, 329,000 BTC are mined each year, producing 37 megatons of CO2, or about 110 tons of CO2 / one-bitcoin-worth-of-bitcoin.