Behind closed doors, EU officials talk about banning Bitcoin
Crypto’s voracious appetite for electricity is causing alarm in Brussels. Behind closed doors, the European Commission and the German government are talking about countermeasures. Newly released documents show how the EU could ban Bitcoin.
For its fans, Bitcoin is the money of the future and the basis of a new economic system: digital and without central control. Anyone who wants to can join in. That’s because the network that runs Bitcoin is decentralized and runs on thousands of devices around the world. All it needs is an Internet connection, a computer and electricity.
But it is precisely the latter, Bitcoin’s hunger for energy, that is becoming a global problem. Instead of ordinary computers, crypto miners are using specialized high-performance devices, so-called ASICs. These are necessary to solve the complicated cryptographic problems that Bitcoin uses to protect itself against manipulation.
Critics consider this the currency’s Achilles‘ heel. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that Bitcoin is „extremely inefficient“ and consumes „staggering“ amounts of electricity.
Amid the Ukraine war and rising energy prices, this criticism seems pressing. While Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, wants to switch to the much more frugal proof-of-stake method, such a switch is unlikely for Bitcoin. That’s because the decentralized structure that makes Bitcoin attractive to its fans makes updates nearly impossible.
Bitcoin consumes around 130 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, researchers at the University of Cambridge estimate in their Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. They expect that figure to rise. By comparison, the whole of Germany consumed around 488 terawatt hours of electricity in 2020. Even though this is only a rough estimate, few experts doubt that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies consume immense amounts of electricity.
Warnings that crypto could become a driver of climate change are causing unease among officials in Berlin and Brussels. Behind closed doors, the European Commission and the German government are considering a ban on bitcoin mining and trading in the cryptocurrency, according to documents unearthed by netzpolitik.org.
https://netzpolitik.org/2022/climate-measures-behind-closed-doors-eu-officials-talk-about-banning-bitcoin/
#eu #climate #measures #bitcoin
Crypto’s voracious appetite for electricity is causing alarm in Brussels. Behind closed doors, the European Commission and the German government are talking about countermeasures. Newly released documents show how the EU could ban Bitcoin.
For its fans, Bitcoin is the money of the future and the basis of a new economic system: digital and without central control. Anyone who wants to can join in. That’s because the network that runs Bitcoin is decentralized and runs on thousands of devices around the world. All it needs is an Internet connection, a computer and electricity.
But it is precisely the latter, Bitcoin’s hunger for energy, that is becoming a global problem. Instead of ordinary computers, crypto miners are using specialized high-performance devices, so-called ASICs. These are necessary to solve the complicated cryptographic problems that Bitcoin uses to protect itself against manipulation.
Critics consider this the currency’s Achilles‘ heel. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that Bitcoin is „extremely inefficient“ and consumes „staggering“ amounts of electricity.
Amid the Ukraine war and rising energy prices, this criticism seems pressing. While Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, wants to switch to the much more frugal proof-of-stake method, such a switch is unlikely for Bitcoin. That’s because the decentralized structure that makes Bitcoin attractive to its fans makes updates nearly impossible.
Bitcoin consumes around 130 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, researchers at the University of Cambridge estimate in their Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. They expect that figure to rise. By comparison, the whole of Germany consumed around 488 terawatt hours of electricity in 2020. Even though this is only a rough estimate, few experts doubt that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies consume immense amounts of electricity.
Warnings that crypto could become a driver of climate change are causing unease among officials in Berlin and Brussels. Behind closed doors, the European Commission and the German government are considering a ban on bitcoin mining and trading in the cryptocurrency, according to documents unearthed by netzpolitik.org.
https://netzpolitik.org/2022/climate-measures-behind-closed-doors-eu-officials-talk-about-banning-bitcoin/
#eu #climate #measures #bitcoin
netzpolitik.org
Climate measures: Behind closed doors, EU officials talk about banning Bitcoin
Crypto's voracious appetite for electricity is causing alarm in Brussels. Behind closed doors, the European Commission and the German government are talking about countermeasures. We publish documents that show how the EU could ban Bitcoin.