We wouldn’t blame you if you have never given a second thought to the potential environmental costs of Bitcoin. Most are only interested in the price and how they function with little thought on how the whole thing is processed. After Elon Musk’s shockwave tweet where he explained that his company Tesla was going to move away from Bitcoin because of environmental concerns the obvious focus now will shift towards the environmental problems within the crypto industry and are there any alternatives that can help solve this problem.
Why Is Crypto Bad For The Environment?
Since Bitcoin is by far the biggest cryptocurrency in the world, we should start focusing on how significant its environmental footprint is. This is due to the amount of energy required to power the algorithms behind them. China is where most of the mining of Bitcoin takes place and although in theory renewable energy can be used in reality 60% of the energy it uses is coal.
Which Cryptocurrency Is The Best For The Environment?
Research compiled by TRG Datacenters, based in Houston has helped bring to public attention the most eco-friendly cryptocurrencies. They developed a ranking system based on the amount of energy each crypto consumes per transaction.
| Currency | Kilowatt-hour (KWh) consumed per transaction |
| XRP | 0.0079 |
| Dogecoin | 0.12 |
| Cardano | 0.5479 |
| Litecoin | 18.522 |
| Bitcoin Cash | 18.957 |
| Ethereum | 62.56 |
| Bitcoin | 707 |
The support of Elon Musk is not the be-all and end-all but the potential impact his support could have on the price of a cryptocurrency has already been proven. If he can make a coin like DOGE fly to the moon imagine what he could do with a more peer-reviewed project. Whichever coin he chooses (if he chooses one at all) will almost inevitably see a spike in price. XRP is going through legal difficulties but Musk’s dislike for the SEC might turn him on to this cryptocurrency. While Cardano and Litecoin also seem like reasonable choices.
