It is clear that cryptocurrency, in its current form, is a disaster for the planet. While much has been made of crypto's environmental footprint and electrical usage, little has been done to examine its effects on e-waste.
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The journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling published a new study this month that estimates how much waste Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency market, produces each year. Researchers believe this is due to the very short life span of bitcoin mining devices like the ASIC computer chips that are used to mine bitcoin.
According to the Guardian, ASIC chips are often only used for 1.29 years and are frequently being replaced by newer, more efficient ones by miners. This leads to a lot of waste. Researchers put a number on this.
According to the researchers, this means that the entire bitcoin network uses 30.7 metric tons of equipment each year. This is similar to the amount small IT and telecommunications equipment waste generated by countries like the Netherlands.
Although most people know that a kiloton weighs more than 2.2million pounds, it can be difficult to visualize all the e-waste. According to the researchers, each bitcoin transaction produced at least 272 grams (.59 pounds) of e-waste. The Guardian summarized it: This is equivalent to two iPhone 12 Minis' worth of ewaste.
In 2020, there were 112.5 million transactions with bitcoin.
This means that every year, millions upon millions of iPhone Minis are disposed of. You may not have felt bad about our planet beforee-waste releases toxic chemicals and heavy metals to the soil and improper recycling can cause water and air pollution.
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Although the ASIC chips can theoretically be used again if bitcoin profits and prices rise, there are many obstacles that prevent miners using them again. Researchers point out that one factor is the high cost of storing the hardware. The researchers also point out that the more time that bitcoin mining devices are kept, the less profitable they will be.
However, the e-waste problem could get much worse quickly. Everything depends on bitcoin's price. According to the researchers, the bitcoin price peak in 2021 was more than $60,000 and e-waste could rise to 64.4 metric tons in the middle term.
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To address bitcoin's e-waste problem, we would need to swap out the current mining process for a more sustainable one, such as proofof stake, as the paper points out.
