Cryptocurrency is a virtual currency touted as a way to remove all of the costs incurred between money users and suppliers and put its control into the hands of the people.

But cryptocurrency requires energy, equipment, internet, and a global networking infrastructure to be useful. Thus, it has a large environmental impact, with some using as much energy as small countries to maintain a blockchain. There are even concerns about cryptocurrency's water footprint. Keep reading to learn more about cryptocurrency's impact on the environment.Cryptocurrency Energy Consumption

There is no direct way to calculate how much energy is used for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining, but the figure can be estimated from the network's hashrate and the consumption by commercially-available mining rigs. For example, the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that Bitcoin, the most widely-mined cryptocurrency network, uses an estimated 140 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually (0.63% of global electricity use) and about 352 TWh of energy (0.22% of global energy production) at the point of production—more than Pakistan and Ukraine, using the latest country energy estimates from 2019.

Another estimate by Digiconomist, a cryptocurrency analytics site, placed the figure at 138 Terawatt-hours based on energy consumption through Dec. 11, 2023. This computed to around 773.61 kilowatt-hours of electricity per transaction, the same amount of power consumed by the average American household over 26 days