All Bitcoin mining should be environmentally friendly

The rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin has the potential to change how we view money. At the same time, governments and societies are worried that the anonymity of these cashless transactions could allow criminal activities to flourish. Another less remarked issue is the energy demands needed to mint new coins for these cryptocurrencies. A new report by Associate Professor Naoki Shibata of Nara Institute of Science and Technology presents a blockchain algorithm, which he calls “proof-of-search” (PoS), that retains the attractive features of most cryptocurrencies at a lower cost to the environment.

While the economics of cryptocurrencies gets most of the attention, it is becoming readily apparent that cryptocurrencies have a massive environmental cost. The energy used in the world to mine for Bitcoins alone equals…