Bitcoin Mining: 20X More Water Intensive than Gold, Guzzles 154 Litres per $1 Mined

The clash between Bitcoin and sustainability proponents could escalate a notch higher. This follows the release of a new Stocklytics.com report detailing the amount of water BTC verification consumes. Per the site, mining one of the premier crypto is more water-intensive per dollar than digging gold.

According to the Stocklytics data presentation, verifying a dollar’s worth of BTC transactions guzzles 154 liters of water. Conversely, excavating gold of similar value consumes roughly 7.5 liters. That works to a 20X difference in their footprints of the resource.

The findings have drawn a swift reaction from Stocklytic’s investments lead, Edith Reads. She suggests the report could open a new front for the anti-bitcoin crusade. To her, it provides impetus for BTC opponents who deem its activities unsustainable.

Edith affirmed:

This report is a damning indictment of the Bitcoin mining process. On the one hand, it galvanises anti-bitcoin activists in their push for the coin’s condemnation. But it could also provide the impetus for bitcoiners to champion for a cleaner and greener BTC.

Stocklytics Financial Analyst

BTC is No Stranger to Controversy

BTC continues to stir controversy for its perceived environmental footprint. For instance, a recent United Nations University publication details the coin’s impacts beyond its highly talked-of carbon emissions. It claims that BTC’s reliance on fossil fuels raises concerns about its effects on water and land.

The study contends that BTC mining activities consumed 173 terawatt hours of electric power between 2020 and 2021. That electricity consumption would place BTC 27th in global power usage if it were a country. For context, that’s more than what Pakistan, a country of 230 million people, uses.

It adds that the cryptocurrency’s carbon footprint is comparable to burning 84 billion pounds of coal. So, to offset that, the world needed to plant 3.9 billion trees,  covering almost 7% of the Amazon Forest. Again, its water demands would serve nearly 300 million of Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural population.

Moreover, the report casts doubts on Bitcoin’s so-called sustainability push. It holds that wind and solar power, BTC’s most prominent renewable energy sources, account for a paltry 5% and 2% of its energy needs, respectively. Meanwhile, fossil fuels predominate its activities, with coal and natural gas accounting for 45% and 21% of its energy requirements, respectively.

A Case For Bitcoin

Bitcoiners, on their part, have provided evidence to debunk allegations that the coin is dirty. They hold that reports like the UN University’s above are skewed and fail to provide proper context. They have pointed to Galaxy Digital’s 2021 report that showed the energy footprint of data centers of the top 100 global banks doubles BTC’s.

Again, they argue that per World Bank and International Energy Agency estimates, we lose 19 times more electricity in transmission and distribution than in blockchain use. 

The Bitcoin Council has also presented its defense for the king crypto. In a 2022 report, it claims that 60% of global mining uses renewable resources. Additionally, it suggests that advancements in mining tools and techniques had seen a 46% YOY increase in mining efficiency.