The Effects of Crypto-Currency Mining on Environmental Sustainability

Cryptocurrencies derived by a cryptographic blockchain technology have shown an impressive growth in market value and trading volume over the last decade, leading to a significant transformation in financial markets. These digital assets do not only produce satisfactory returns for investors but also guarantee quick transfer of ownership by its decentralized, safe, and flexible system. However, the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies also brings several challenges and concerns for environmental sustainability due to high energy consumption, carbon emission and electronic waste generated by crypto-mining process. This study discusses the effects of crypto mining on environmental sustainability, particularly focusing on global warming and climate change. The findings show that crypto-mining has negative effects on climate change and air pollution by its increasing electricity consumption, carbon emission and electronic waste and may seriously influence the sustainability of crypto-markets and environmental eco-system. Thus, policy makers should take innovative actions to increase the efficiency of the hardware used in crypto-mining, introduce minimum standards, impose new regulations i.e., carbon emission tax and encourage increasing use of renewable energy sources for crypto-mining to preserve environmental sustainability.