Riot Platforms, the largest bitcoin miner by market cap, is under crisp and ruthless scrutiny after The New York Times published a story that raised questions about the sheer and uncontrolled contribution of bitcoin mining to carbon pollution and remarkable electricity costs. The New York Times' article pointed out that 96% of Riot Platforms' power is from fossil fuels and the additional use of power causes as much carbon pollution as adding 3.5 million gas-powered cars to the roads in Texas. To put it into perspective, the mine in Rockdale of Riot Platforms uses the same amount of electricity as the 300,000 homes in the region, making it the most power-intensive Bitcoin mining operation in the United States.

Although, Riot Platforms responded to The New York Times' mis-leading article with a tongue-in-cheek video that aimed at close inspection of the Low Carbon dissipated in the Rockdale area, but the video failed to demonstrate a scientific meeting and proof that this mining facility did not have an effect on the environment. Subsequently, Riot Platforms also released a written statement and highlighted that the in-depth research of The Times relies on data that is false and misleading. Furthermore, the company asserted that the Bitcoin mining operations do not generate any greenhouse gas emissions but unfortunately this statement is hard to believe without validating sources.

To make matters worse, a Cambridge University research project has estimated that Bitcoin miners' electricity consumption has already produced 200 million tonnes of CO2 since the cryptocurrency was invented. This is an alarmingly large amount for an industry that is barely two decades old and it is unclear how much of this figure will be accounted for by Riot Platforms.

It is true that Bitcoin mining sector has made a tremendous impact on the global economy but the irony is that we don’t know what kind of long-term damage these activities are doing to the environment. We still don’t have an effective mechanism to offset the losses due to heavy carbon emission and electricity costs caused by the crypto miners. Riot Platforms, or for that matter any bitcoin miner, should focus more on finding ways to reduce electricity consumption and environmental impact of their operations instead of attaching themselves to false rhetoric. Therefore, as a society, we need to discuss and come up with sustainable solutions to mitigate the consequences of Bitcoin mining on our environment.



Other News from Today