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An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network

Posted on June 5, 2014 by hassmccook — Leave a comment

GreenEarth

 

SEE THE FULL REPORT HERE IN PDF FORMAT:

An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network

 

There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, with this fascinating nascent technology facing several unsubstantiated claims by uninformed individuals that Bitcoin is highly unsustainable from a social, economic and environmental point of view. This paper aims to disprove or support these claims about the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, and provide an order-of-magnitude comparison of the relative sustainability of Bitcoin when compared with the incumbent banking industry, the gold production industry, and the process of printing and minting of physical currency.

Widely available public information strongly refutes claims that Bitcoin is unsustainable, and shows that the social, environmental and economic impacts are a minuscule fraction of the impacts that the legacy wealth and monetary systems have on our society and environment.

The results of the research are summarised in the tables below.

 

Comparison of Annual Economic Costs

  Gross Yearly Cost
Gold Mining USD$105 billion
Gold Recycling USD$40 billion
Paper Currency & Minting USD$28 billion
Banking System Electricity Use USD$63.8 billion
Bitcoin Mining USD$0.66 billion

 

Comparison of Annual Environmental Costs

  Energy Used (GJ) Tonnes CO2 Produced Emission Trend
Gold Mining 475 million 54 million Increasing
Gold Recycling 25 million 4 million Decreasing
Paper Currency & Minting 39.6 million 6.7 million Increasing
Banking System 2340 million 390 million Increasing
Bitcoin Mining 3.3 million 0.55 million Decreasing

 

Comparison of Annual Socioeconomic Costs

Gold Fiat Currency Bitcoin
Worker Deaths Over 50,000 historically recorded & Over 100 per year 0 0
Corruption USD$600m USD$1.60 trillion Negligible
Money Laundering USD$2.65 trillion
Black Markets USD$1.80 trillion

 

 

BTC Tip Address: 1GoKNSc3ddhHnYPL4FNbGBG6kdvG5kbm3f

SEE THE FULL REPORT HERE IN PDF FORMAT:

An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network

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Posted in Bitcoin, Busting Bitcoin Myths, Disruptive Technologies, The Halls of Extinction

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An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network

An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network

  SEE THE FULL REPORT HERE IN PDF FORMAT: An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network   There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, with this fascinating nascent technology facing several unsubstantiated claims by uninformed individuals that Bitcoin is highly unsustainable from a social, […]

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