Elaine Ou, Columnist

No, Bitcoin Won't Boil the Oceans

Concerns about the cryptocurrency's energy use are overblown.

December 7, 2017 at 1:01 PM EST

Elaine Ou is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a blockchain engineer at Global Financial Access in San Francisco. Previously she was a lecturer in the electrical and information engineering department at the University of Sydney.

Power hog.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

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While much of the world marvels at bitcoin’s meteoric rise, another part is focused on an environmental byproduct: The sheer amount of electricity that crypto-currencies use. By some estimates, bitcoin’s consumption alone exceeds -- or will exceed -- that of Ireland, Denmark, Japan or even the entire world.

Instead of worrying about how soon bitcoin will melt the polar ice caps, though, it’s worth considering how much energy might be saved.

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

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