If you've been on Twitter in the past couple of hours, you'd probably have noticed the outrage at Elon's recent statement about Bitcoin. The billionaire who has been an active crypto shill sort of retraced his Bitcoin sentiment because it is "bad for the environment".
Uhhh, okay, I get he's human and not above the odd error but this is one of the first things you learn about cryptocurrencies. After realizing that Bitcoin is bad for the environment, he dropped this statement on a Tweet some hours ago.
Now I'm not one to cave into modern-day outrages because they are often about mundane shit that cancel culture hate but this time, I feel like the outrage is worth it. I mean, I'm not mad at him or anything, just a bit surprised because this is coming out now.
We don't like to talk about the environmental impact Bitcoin has but I figured everyone just accepted it. According to a publication on the New yorker;
Bitcoin mining is, of course, purely metaphorical, but the results can be every bit as destructive as with the real thing. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, bitcoin-mining operations worldwide now use energy at the rate of nearly a hundred and twenty terawatt-hours per year
The Nature.com further identified that;
The peak carbon emission per GDP of Bitcoin industry is expected to sit at 10.77 kg per USD
All this information is available on the internet, so it is sort of baffling that Elon skipped this part. Considering he's a proponent of clean energy and has invested so much into making electric cars, this is sort of ironic that he didn't bother checking.
Other than Bitcoin, even Dogecoin is also a proof of work coin and mined in pretty much the same way with the head of the class, just consumes less power. There are proof of stake options out there and if that's not enough, maybe tesla could start working on a way to fix it.
I mean, you're Elon Musk and you sent rockets to space, how about taking Bitcoin and Dogecoin mining to the next level by making wind or solar mining farms. It's just a thought anyway.
