Bitcoin is recognized as the dirtiest cryptocurrency

According to a report by the Luxembourg-based exchange and education platform Forex Suggest, bitcoin became the cryptocurrency whose mining had the worst environmental impact last year. Experts estimate that mining one BTC emitted almost a ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. In total, bitcoin mining produced about 86.3 million tons of CO2 in 2022. Experts emphasized that in order to reduce the impact of harmful emissions, it would be necessary to plant approximately 431.6 million new trees.

However, the analysts' report does not take into account those BTC miners who switch to alternative energy sources. According to the Bitcoin Mining Council, in the third quarter of 2022, the stable energy balance in the BTC mining industry was 59.4%, which is 3% more than in 2021.

Bitcoin mining and the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism have long been heavily criticized for their excessive energy use. The Bitcoin network is opposed to Ethereum, the second largest blockchain, which last September completed the transition to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. The Merge has reduced energy consumption on the blockchain by 99.95%.

Lee Smales, a professor of finance at the University of Western Australia, warns that BTC’s commitment to PoW will slow down progress on adequate power consumption for cryptocurrency mining. «BTC is going to crash. The flagship cryptocurrency will attract more bad publicity to the PoW model now that The Merge seems to have worked well,» the researcher said.

Analysts from Forex Suggest summarized that XRP turned out to be the least energy-intensive of the top ten leading cryptocurrencies. In contrast, the Polygon blockchain was ranked second in terms of CO2 emissions.