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Bitcoin has changed the face of currency across the globe. The cryptocurrency’s also had such a devastating impact on climate change that it’s essentially erased all the climate benefits of electric cars, according to one study.
That’s because of what’s known as bitcoin mining. Bitcoin is decentralized; it’s not run by any government. Instead, every time there’s a bitcoin transaction, computers across the world run complex mathematical formulas to authenticate it.
Mining is now a lucrative business, and companies operate entire large warehouses full of stacks and stacks of these computers. All of that requires a ton of energy. So much so that China banned bitcoin mining altogether.
Yet, as we investigate this week on Reveal, cities and towns across the United States are doing the opposite, scrambling to attract bitcoin operations by selling them power at a deep discount. In some places, that means firing up old coal-fueled power plants, undoing the big steps communities have taken toward weaning themselves off coal to combat climate change.
We’ll also explore whether there can be such a thing as clean cryptocurrency. Our guest host Shereen Marisol Meraji, who you might recognize from NPR’s Code Switch, talks with Ludwig Siegele, technology editor at The Economist, who gives his assessment of the challenges of making cryptocurrency environmentally friendly.
🌎 Listen online or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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