Bitcoin’s massive rally over the past year means it’s only getting worse for the environment.
The energy used by the network of computers that power the digital coin is comparable to that of many developed countries and rivals the emissions from major fossil-fuel users and producers such as American Airlines Group Inc. and ConocoPhillips, according to a report by Bank of America Corp. The level of emissions, which have risen alongside a spike in Bitcoin’s price, have grown by more than 40 million tons in the past two years. And when the digital asset is trading around $50,000 — which it’s done for much of this year — it uses about 0.4% of global energy consumption.
More worrisome, according to the report titled "Bitcoin’s dirty little secrets,” is that rising prices may mean Bitcoin’s energy consumption will soon rival that of some of the largest countries in the world.