Bitcoin Water usage

The BBC tells us Every Bitcoin payment ‘uses a swimming pool of water’:

Every Bitcoin transaction uses, on average, enough water to fill “a back yard swimming pool”, a new study suggests.

Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) use a large amount of electricity to compute into the void. Electricity mean heat, which mean cooling, and water is good for that. Also the electricity is produced with water cooled generation stations, mostly using fossil fuels. All of that adds up.

The energy waste and climate changing greenhouse gases used to power the blockchain, Bitcoin in particular, are often cited, but water… this is another big concern. The blue gold is essential to life and we can already see it being less accessible.

The Verge also has a report on the same study.

Technology is never neutral, and its misuse has always consequences. The environment is one of them.