Bitcoin can push global warming above 2 degrees Celsius by 2033: Study

Implementing Bitcoin at similar rates at which other technologies have been incorporated could alone produce enough emissions to raise global temperatures by two degrees Celsius as soon as 2033, according to a study.

“Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency with heavy hardware requirements, and this obviously translates into large electricity demands,” said Randi Rollins, a master’s student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the US.

Purchasing with Bitcoins and several other cryptocurrencies, which are forms of currency that exist digitally through encryption, requires large amounts of electricity, according to the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Bitcoin purchases create transactions that are recorded and processed by a group of individuals referred to as miners.

Miners group every Bitcoin transaction made during a specific timeframe into a block.

Blocks are then added to the chain, which is the public ledger, researchers said.

The verification process by miners, who…