Bitcoin's Growing Water Footprint

cell.com

2 pointspavlov2 comments

"Bitcoin’s water footprint has rapidly escalated in recent years. The water footprint of Bitcoin in 2021 significantly increased by 166% compared with 2020, from 591.2 to 1,573.7 GL. The water footprint per transaction processed on the Bitcoin blockchain for those years amounted to 5,231 and 16,279 L, respectively. As of 2023, Bitcoin’s annual water footprint may equal 2,237 GL. To address this increasing water footprint, miners could apply immersion cooling and consider using power sources that do not require freshwater."

At 16,279 litres per Bitcoin transaction, you can literally fill a swimming pool with the water wasted each time some coins are moved.

POW cryptomining is simply an environmental disaster and needs to be outlawed. There's no room for "well what about all the energy spent on [unrelated thing X]" because society can do multiple things at once, you know. We can address this relatively new issue now while also trying to solve the more entrenched environmental problems separately.

Note, the vast majority of the water is

1. Tied to the generation of the electricity (indirect water usage)

2. Happening in Khazakstan and Russia

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