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.They concluded that, in late 2018, the entire bitcoin network was responsible for 22-22.9 million tons of CO2 per year — similar to a large Western city or an entire developing country like Sri Lanka. Total global emissions of the greenhouse gas from the burning of fossil fuels were about 37 billion tons last year.' There are bigger factors contributing to climate change,' said Christian Stoll, one of the study's authors.
'However, the carbon footprint is big enough to make it worth discussing the possibility of regulating cryptocurrency mining in regions where power generation is especially carbon-intensive.' The process of generating, or mining, a bitcoin involves solving a series of complex mathematical problems, which takes a lot of computing power. According to some estimates, more than half of the power used for bitcon resides in China, which still relies heavily on coal for electricity.
How blockchain worksThe Joule study found that about 68% of the computing power used to generate bitcoins is in Asia, 17% is in Europe and 15% is in North America.Alex de Vries, a bitcoin researcher who wasn't involved in the study, questioned whether the method used to determine the location of computers was reliable enough. But he said the emission figures were consistent with those he had calculated using a different method, and could even be on the low end.' The folks in this study were very conservative on the energy side,' he told The Associated Press.Previous studies have put bitcoin's energy use even higher. Researchers writing in Nature Climate Change last year warned that large-scale bitcoin mining could push the Earth's climate that scientists say must be observed to avoid irreversible damage. Last year the bitcoin network processed about 81 million transactions, compared to 500 billion transactions handled by the regular global banking system, said de Vries.'
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If you look at the carbon footprint per transaction, that's where the real shock is,' said de Vries, estimating it at about 271 kilograms of CO2 per transaction — or several hundred times that of a standard credit card payment. 'That's insane.' - CBS News' Irina Ivanova contributed reporting.First published on June 13, 2019 / 3:00 PM© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.