The current cryptocurrency crash has had far-reaching effects on the tech market and has even had a substantially positive impact on the environment.
According to data released by Digiconomistthe accident reduced carbon emissions by a significant amount – 150,000 metric tons of CO2 per day are avoided due to reduced cryptomining.
As stated by Digiconomist, “the total reductions in the last few weeks already represent a quarter of the annual CO2 reductions from Tesla vehicles”. We will see how much more emissions decrease as the market continues to fall.
The cryptocurrency crash is (so far) having a lasting impact on related carbon emissions. 150,000 metric tons of CO2 are avoided each day compared to before the accident. The total reductions in recent weeks are already equivalent to a quarter of the annual CO2 reductions from Tesla vehicles. pic.twitter.com/BPiTu1d8WPJune 30, 2022
To put this in context, this amount of avoided carbon emissions, according to the Digiconomist analysis, is more than the entire global net savings produced by the deployment of electronic vehicles, which the International Energy Agency (opens in new tab) put at around 50 Mt in 2020.
Of course, this is just avoiding carbon emissions, which means this represents carbon emissions that we don’t actively add to our total emissions output, not existing emissions that we somehow deny.
Analysis: The far-reaching effects of cryptomining
Seeing how much carbon emissions declined after the cryptocurrency crash is worrying to say the least. The cyptomining industry has left a lasting negative impact on the world.
The far-reaching damage of cryptomining to the environment is a well-documented fact, with several studies reporting the incredibly large amount of carbon emissions it releases due to the high energy consumption of mining through electronic devices.
Mining devices based on ASIC technology also produce significant electronic waste, as their lifespan lasts between three to five years on average before needing to be replaced, and worn-out equipment cannot be reused for other uses by its nature.
Another form of mining equipment comes in the form of GPUs, with the best graphics cards being highly sought after by miners, as we can see how Ethereum miners spent alone. $15 billion on graphics cards in the last two years. Even the best cheap graphics cards from a few generations ago became nearly impossible to buy during the cryptocurrency boom.
Many of these cards are now flooding the used market as miners try to recoup their losses, and there is no way of knowing what their remaining lifespan might be or the conditions under which they were operating. So there’s no way to know if these used cards are a smart buy unless miners are literally giving them away for free.
