Bitcoin and gold have become the preferred options for investors, following the volatile markets arising from the pandemic. However, concerns over the impact of Bitcoin mining keep rising, amid its increased usage.
BanklessTimes has been following up on how much it costs to mine the two safe assets. According to our findings, generating Bitcoin worth $1 uses up 17 megajoules (MJ) of energy. Mining gold worth the same amount would require 5 MJ, which is 3.4 times less.
The last two years have seen an increase in the usage of Bitcoin and gold, which also directly translates to the adverse effects on the environment. Although both assets consume quite a bit of energy, Bitcoin’s consumption is comparably higher since the network still needs electricity to complete transactions and continue functioning.
Following the surge in the number of users, Bitcoin’s carbon footprint is currently about 15x that of gold. Mining 1 Bitcoin emits about 191 tonnes of carbon dioxide, while mining gold worth 1 Bitcoin emits about only 13 tonnes.
To put things into perspective, the carbon emissions from 1 bitcoin is equivalent to over 1.6 million VISA transactions.
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