The rush for bitcoin could be called digital gold rush. However, the mining of bitcoin and its maintenance consumes huge amount of energy. Algorithms of bitcoin demand great computational power for transaction validation. In the process, carbon dioxide is released — several million tonnes of it. Power consumption is also huge — several tetra-watt hours. There are crypto farms which require power. There is so much mining in Southwest China where power is cheap, less taxed and is either thermal or hydro-electricity.

Bitcoin justifies this by stating that many a time the power is wasted. Some farms use waste material such as metal, are kept cool by sub-zero temperatures and are powered by economical electricity. However, cheap power too has its costs. The recent power blackouts in Iran are attributed to bitcoin. It is a fact that bitcoin wastes enormous amount of energy. However, all cryptocurrencies are not power-hungry. The Government and its departments too are energy guzzlers.