Bitcoin has dominated the financial space in the past decade mostly due to its volatility. However, critics have hit hard focusing on the crypto’s carbon footprint impact as it gains massive adoption in various jurisdictions.
But, that situation appears to be changing mostly with mining operations notably opting for renewable sources of energy to mitigate carbon emissions.
Particularly, Bitcoin is allegedly set to reach a net zero emission by December 2024. This achievement will make it become the first monetary system to reach the feat, a new study by BatCoinz shows.
Based on the study that was first seen by Finbold, the Bitcoin network now has 62.4% zero emissions by considering carbon-negative mining. By March next year, the activity is projected to have 72.7% zero emissions based on newly introduced carbon-negative projects.
Using this method, the researchers calculated the amount of Bitcoin energy arising from positive carbon sources and then derived this positive carbon quantity. Moreover, these researchers reverse-engineered to determine the amount of Methane that would have to be removed from the air via combustion to counter-balance the negative carbon quantity.
Bitcoin’s Route To Carbon Neutrality
This study’s conclusion is based on the use of flared gas to power Bitcoin mining which has been increasing by 8.3 MW per month since May 2021. The study stated:
“We anticipate that Bitcoin mining using vented methane as power will initially grow at only 83% of the growth rate of flared gas mining (6.9 MW/month). Based on this more modest growth rate, we forecast that the Bitcoin network will become carbon neutral in Q4, 2024 fully.”
Moreover, the analysis acknowledged that the hash rate might increase together with energy consumption with Bitcoin’s growth. But, the study pointed out that the renewable network usage and miner efficiency are also surging and will provide a counter-balance to the hash rate.
Bitcoin Carbon Footprint Criticism
Generally, Bitcoin’s carbon footprint has come under a lot of scrutiny from various jurisdictions, with the topic now becoming a regulatory focus point. For example, the White House commissioned a study to determine the rate of Bitcoin and crypto power consumption to influence the nation’s regulatory policy.
Buy Bitcoin NowConcurrently, various mining operators have majorly turned to renewable sources to limit their carbon footprint impact. In that line, as reported previously, electricity demand by Bitcoin has lost 21% since the beginning of the year. In that context, the drop coincided with the continued crypto market meltdown.
Nonetheless, it will be quite interesting to monitor how Bitcoin’s net zero emissions influence the regulatory aspect. That comes as jurisdictions like New York outlawed establishing new proof-of-work (PoW) mining activities.
