{"id":1651,"date":"2022-06-18T19:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T19:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/environment196.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2023-04-18T19:18:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T19:18:17","slug":"not-so-green-machines-environmental-concerns-of-cryptocurrency-mining-and-transactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/?p=1651","title":{"rendered":"Not-So-Green Machines: Environmental Concerns of Cryptocurrency Mining and Transactions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Nan Zhang (she\/they)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ELR Staff, J.D. 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Shiba Inu. Pixelated heads. Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this sounds like the beginning of a joke about walking into a bar, they are, in fact, all unified by cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although cryptocurrency was once considered a fringe phenomenon, American interest has recently spiked, in part thanks to Tesla\u2019s co-founder, Elon Musk. He helped popularize cryptocurrencies and NFTs with his constant tweets about popular cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. When Musk announced that Tesla would accept Bitcoin<\/a> for its products, Bitcoin\u2019s value increased dramatically, and people began earnestly researching cryptocurrencies.  Today, such terms are almost as recognizable in common parlance as Twitter or Google. Megan Thee Stallion has spoken about crypto<\/a> and an NFT by the artist Beeple sold at Christie\u2019s Auction House for $69 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as more people started engaging with cryptocurrencies, the damaging impact of crypto mining on the environment came to light. Mining is the process by which individuals add more value to their cryptocurrency \u201cwallets.\u201d It uses single-purpose, specialized hardware that relies on \u201cproof-of-work\u201d algorithms. These algorithms require computers to complete complex mathematical functions that use enormous amounts of electricity to generate any meaningful amount of crypto.  In order to store cryptocurrencies in a stable way, individuals utilize blockchain technology<\/a>, a decentralized public digital ledger that records and stores transactions across many computers and protects those records from being altered, deleted, or destroyed without alterations to all subsequent blocks. Unfortunately, this also requires substantial amounts of energy to operate and maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annually, cryptocurrency\u2019s power usage rivals that of the entire nation of Poland.  The mining process<\/a> also puts an enormous strain on the computer hardware it uses, generating tremendous amounts of electronic waste, or e-waste. Such waste includes everything from plastic to heavy metals, and this waste often cannot be recycled. Regardless of how much currency is exchanged, each crypto transaction between miners puts the equivalent of half an iPad<\/a>\u2019s worth of waste into a landfill. Annually, the crypto industry creates the same amount of e-waste as the Netherlands<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislation and Regulation of Cryptocurrency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology and environment experts, as well as everyday consumers, have increasingly scrutinized cryptocurrency\u2019s environmental effects. As a result of their disturbing findings, they have called for legislative and agency intervention in blockchain users\u2019 and trading networks\u2019 potentially harmful behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National and administrative decision-makers, governments, and authorities have responded differently. For instance, on the international level, eight countries<\/a>, including China<\/a>, Egypt<\/a>, and Iraq<\/a>, banned trading and mining for cryptocurrency altogether. Before the ban, China engaged in between 65%<\/a> and 75%<\/a> of global transactions and mining. China\u2019s ban initially caused a sharp drop in energy usage. However, other nations\u2019 users, especially Americans, quickly filled that vacuum.  As a result, power usage is nearly the same level<\/a> as before China\u2019s ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (\u201cCTFC\u201d) has classified<\/a> cryptocurrencies, renewable energy allowances, and emissions allowances under the umbrella term \u201ccommodity.\u201d Intangible goods classified as commodities fall under the Commodity Exchange Act (\u201cCEA\u201d). The CEA only prevents fraudulent crypto-related conduct by regulating cryptocurrencies, the same way an agency regulates renewable energy or emissions allowances trading..  It does not enable the government to monitor or regulate individuals trading cryptocurrencies for energy usage or electronic waste. In early October of 2021, more than 70 nonprofits urged Congress to consider crypto\u2019s energy usage<\/a> in new regulations regarding the sector. Only time will tell whether Congress will take such concerns into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the absence of congressional action and federal regulation, state legislatures are proposing bills to limit crypto\u2019s environmental harm. From 2021 to 2022, the New York state legislature proposed twenty-one bills<\/a> calling for decreases or bans on large-scale proof-of-work operations for crypto mining. Senator Kevin S. Parker sponsored a bill<\/a> proposing a moratorium on new mining operations, but the bill died<\/a> in Assembly on June 10, 2021. At a more local level, municipalities have regulated limits on the output of data centers located within their jurisdiction.  For example, Missoula County, Montana, requires cryptocurrency companies to buy or generate renewable energy<\/a> equal to the amount they use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many involved in crypto have sought to mitigate its environmental effects, there will continue to be very little accountability without laws or policies enforcing penalties for e-waste generation or energy overconsumption. Our legislatures must protect our environment from novel technology that currently causes more harm than good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nan Zhang (she\/they) ELR Staff, J.D. 2023 A Shiba Inu. Pixelated heads. Venezuela. While this sounds like the beginning of a joke about walking into a bar, they are, in fact, all unified by cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,48,13,44,52,27,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-admin-law","category-corporate-responsibility","category-energy","category-natural-resources","category-state-and-local","category-sustainability","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordhamlawelr.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}