IBOS Association: The Environmental Toll of Cryptocurrency – What Can Be Done?

IBOS Association: The Environmental Toll of Cryptocurrency – What Can Be Done?

Manoj Mistry is the Managing Director of IBOS Association , with over 25 years of experience in the financial services market. He has worked across Europe, North America and APAC developing business strategies in regional financial institutions coverage, global custody product development and strategic relationship management. Talking to The Fintech Times , Mistry explains how cryptocurrencies can be more environmentally friendly, following an analysis of different countries’ responses to digital currencies: More than any other cryptocurrency, Bitcoin continues to dominate the headlines. A Google search for Bitcoin returns 4.7 billion results, while its current market share of the global crypto market cap ($1.7trillion) is 39 per cent. But Bitcoin mining – the process by which new Bitcoins enter into circulation each year – requires a vast amount of electricity as miners use vast data centres filled with fast computers to solve complex puzzles. In total, this consumes more electricity greater than the annual energy consumption of countries such as Argentina and more than seven times as much electricity as all of Google’s global operations. In a world that is committed to combatting climate change by reducing CO2 emissions, as conformed by the recent COP21 summit, investors are understandably concerned with