You may have heard how people earn millions from investing in crypto. You may have heard about several stories related to that. But have you ever heard about its harmful impact on the environment? Yes, you have heard it right; cryptocurrency can have a bad impact on the environment.

In the last few years, the demand for crypto has been increasing, and the total cryptocurrency market cap has reached more than three trillion dollars. If you talk about Bitcoin, they will be shocked to know that in 2022 the price for Bitcoin will be nearly twice what it was a year ago. But along with the benefits, it does cause bad effects on the environment. If you want to know how it can be harmful, then here are the reason cryptocurrency is bad for the environment.

How is it bad for the environment?

Now, most people may be wondering how it can be proved bad for the environment. One of the main environmental impacts of crypto comes from energy-intensive activities, and that is the mining of new coins. The energy that is required to mine the coins differs from different coins. Some coins, such as Bitcoin, are incredibly energy-intensive and require more energy than any other.

The Bitcoin transaction required around 2100kilowatt hours, which is roughly the energy which is consumed by the US household in 75 days. When the energy is supplied from non-renewable energy sources, then it can generate excessive greenhouse gas emissions, and that is why bitcoin’s impacts on climate are also bad.

Why does cryptocurrency use so much energy?

The use of energy in crypto mining is the feature of Bitcoin mining and not a bug. Just like mining the gold, crypto mining also requires proof of work, and that is why it is designed to use a large amount of energy.

It is quite expensive if you want to take control of the entire crypto network. The miner will need large amounts of computational power so that it can be operated and maintain the cryptocurrency security network. Fossil fuels are the main source of energy, and crypto mining uses so much energy from fossil fuels.

Is it possible to reduce the environmental impact of crypto?

It is the question that most people have in their mind, can the environmental impact of crypto be reduced? There have been several efforts that have been made to make crypto more green, and that includes the use of methane gas from fossil fuels.

But if the Bitcoin price were to crash, then it would become feasible financially to implement this or any of the projects like this.