Bitcoin mining produces as much carbon emissions as a small country each year, study shows

Sina US Stocks News Beijing time on the 19th, according to foreign media reports, a new study shows that Bitcoin mining requires a lot of electricity, and the resulting carbon emissions have an impact on the environment comparable to that of Las Vegas or a small country like Sri Lanka.
Researchers from the Technical University of Munich and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimate that Bitcoin mining produces around 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
The researchers looked at the impact of bitcoin mining, and to estimate electricity consumption they used IP address and hardware data from recent IPO filings.
The researchers said their study points to potential flaws in blockchain technology that should be considered by policymakers.
"There are certainly larger factors contributing to climate change," one of the researchers, Christian Stoll, said in a statement. "However, the carbon footprint is large enough to warrant discussing the possibility of regulating cryptocurrency mining in regions where electricity generation produces particularly high carbon emissions."