Why does Bitcoin consume so much energy?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2021
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Bitcoin's price hits a new all-time high, it's now estimated to use as much electricity as the whole of Argentina But is this remotely sustainable?
Justin Rowlatt speaks to cryptocurrency expert and University of Chicago economics professor Gina Pieters about why such heavy energy consumption is an intrinsic feature of Bitcoin, and why the higher it's value rises, the more its energy footprint expands.
But what about it's carbon footprint? That's a debate we get to hear both sides of, with crypto evangelist Ethan Pierse saying that Bitcoin miners are helping to finance the expansion of renewable energy sources, while the more sceptical data analyst Alex de Vries says they are burning plenty of fossil fuels to compete in an expensive and pointless lottery.
Plus Kenneth Rogoff, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, compares Bitcoin to a work of modern art, and wonders whether its future may be as a curiosity at a Star Trek convention in the year 2100.
Producer: Laurence Knight
(Picture: Blue Neon light, Bitcoin shape; Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Business Daily. I'm Justin Rowlett, and today we'll be looking at Bitcoin. |
| 0:05.8 | Yep, people have made millions speculating on the cryptocurrency, but as the price goes up and up, |
| 0:12.8 | so does its demand for electricity. |
| 0:15.0 | If Bitcoin were to be adopted at a global reserve currency. Those miners will have more money |
| 0:20.8 | than the entire US federal budget |
| 0:22.8 | to spend on electricity. |
| 0:25.3 | We'd have to double our global energy production |
| 0:27.8 | for Bitcoin. |
| 0:29.3 | So could this be what bursts the Bitcoin bubble? |
| 0:32.7 | That's what we'll be asking here |
| 0:34.1 | on Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:44.2 | Thank you. be asking here on Business Daily from the BBC. Bitcoin hitting another milestone again today, reaching a market cap of more than |
| 0:49.0 | $1 trillion. |
| 0:50.5 | Then there is this, in case you missed it, Elon Musk, updating his Twitter profile. |
| 0:54.8 | The world's richest man now investing $1.5 billion worth of his company's money in the cryptocurrency. |
| 1:02.9 | Its price hit a record high on the news. |
| 1:05.0 | It broke through the $50,000 level just a short time ago. |
| 1:09.0 | It's now up more than 70% since January 1st. |
| 1:13.1 | And I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg, to be honest. I think at 50K, |
| 1:17.3 | my things are just starting. Where is it going? It's probably going to 100, then 150, |
| 1:21.5 | then 200,000. Bitcoin has been in the headlines a lot in the last month. Earlier this week, |
| 1:26.8 | the cryptocurrency peaked at $58,000. But it's not just its price that's hit an all-time high. So has its energy footprint. So we have a pretty comprehensive global estimate of how much energy is being used. And even that estimate ranges from 39 terawatts to 419 |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.