For Michael Novogratz, the billionaire owner of Galaxy Digital, the digital assets company, to imply that the environmental impact of crypto mining is negligible is a mistake (“Galaxy Digital launches sustainability programme to fix bitcoin’s dirty image”, Interview, February 4).
It is to overlook the long-term impact it will have on the planet, which will only rise, particularly as we’ve seen more mainstream adoption of mining currencies such as bitcoin in recent months from the likes of El Salvador and more vendors accepting the digital asset as a form of payment.
While powering the blockchain with renewable energy may be considered responsible by some, we cannot fall into the trap of pretending that bitcoin’s ruthless energy consumption can be “offset”. Plugging renewable resources into powering these blockchains can’t even begin to counteract its environmental burden; we just have to consider what other legitimate uses could have been offset with that same power.
Not all cryptocurrencies have the same environmental impact as bitcoin. The fundamental mistake the founders of bitcoin made was building the cryptocurrency on a proof-of-work blockchain, a protocol which consumes an incredible amount of energy. Unfortunately, they weren’t thinking about sustainability when it was created. So, as we see growing appetite for the use of digital assets as legal tender, we need to ensure that we don’t latch on to the wrong technology that will pose long term problems — no matter what energy source powers them.
We must prioritise building a more sustainable blockchain ecosystem from the outset — one which is both environmentally and financially stable.
Joe Baguley
Vice-president and Chief Technology Officer, EMEA, VMware
London TW18, UK