A Comparison of Bitcoin’s Environmental Impact with That of Gold and Banking

I kind of love all these "comparisons", most of which miss, consciously or not, the most obvious points. For example:

> In 2020, ~3500 tons of gold were mined [...] This brings the gold mining industry’s 2020 total to 265 TWh of energy used.

Bitcoin is touted as a currency. If the currency doesn't move, it becomes irrelevant.

But gold doesn't need to be "re-mined" to stay relevant. Gold is gold, and if it were to be stored in a vault for several years, it would retain its market value.

And another:

> I calculated a figure of 660 TWh of energy used by the banking system’s branches and ATMs, in addition to cotton, plastic, and metal for manufacture of notes and coins [...] Bitcoin uses 113 TWh of energy per year.

Bitcoin accounts for a insignificant fraction of all financial and monetary transactions, yet it uses around 1/6 of the total electricity the banking system consumes, apparently.

In other words, it's much more energy efficient to buy goods using Visa, than with Bitcoin.