How Green Power Powers the Cryptocurrency Mining Future

Crypto miners are going to extraordinary lengths to bring down the costs of cryptocurrency mining, as hashrates reach historic highs and prices struggle to move beyond market resistance.

The situation has forced out less efficient miners, with the sector now being dominated by big players with millions of dollars to invest in low-cost, dedicated energy sources. They are also ready to splurge on highly efficient mining hardware.

Cryptocurrency Mining Figures

Cryptocurrency mining uses up colossal amounts of energy, and according to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index tracker, annual energy used in mining bitcoin alone stands at about 53.7 terawatt hours per year. This is more than enough electricity to power a nation such as the Republic of Ireland. Correlated CO2 emissions are currently placed at about 20 megatonnes.

This is because of the Proof-of-Work mechanism that underlies cryptocurrencies, which is very energy intensive. To put this into perspective, a single bitcoin transaction…