Category: Analysis
A deep dive into cryptocurrency decentralization
In recent years it has become well known that cryptocurrency networks such as the Bitcoin network are energy intensive systems. As of 2024, Bitcoin mining operates on more than 16 gigawatts of power demand, responsible for around 80 megatonnes of annual carbon emissions. Ethereum proved in 2022 that it is possible to replace this energy…
Powering AI could use as much electricity as a small country
It has been nine years since Digiconomist was first launched with the objective of “exposing the unintended consequences of digital trends.” For a big part of these nine years, the sustainability of digital assets such as Bitcoin has been a key focus of the research by Digiconomist. However, in 2022 and 2023 a new digital…
The Latest Hype in NFTs is a Climate Disaster: On-Chain Bitcoin NFTs
It wasn’t long ago non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were making headlines for their excessive environmental impact. Most of these NFTs were making use of the Ethereum blockchain or a related platform, which meant they were also impacted by the energy-hungry proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism that was part of Ethereum until September of last year. During this month,…
New research highlights success of Ethereum’s merge
A new article published in the peer-reviewed journal “Patterns” has caught the attention of various mainstream media such as the BBC and Bloomberg. The article by Digiconomist-founder Alex de Vries, titled “Cryptocurrencies on the road to sustainability: Ethereum paving the way for Bitcoin,” discusses the progress that Ethereum has made in reducing its electrical energy…
Launching public API for energy and carbon footprint data
Digiconomist has launched a new API for developers to retrieve energy consumption and carbon footprint data on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin networks. The respective energy index pages already provide downloadable data on the annualized energy consumption of these networks, but the new API will enable developers to quickly retrieve the total energy consumption and carbon…
