A new study by economist and blockchain expert Alex de Vries finds.
Mining requires energy to solve complex mathematical calculations in order to generate new bitcoins. The situation will likely get worse as the value of bitcoin rises. “You are generating numbers the whole time and the machines you’re using for that use electricity.
If you want to get a bigger slice of the pie, you need to increase your computing power,” said de Vries (Science Daily). “So there’s a big incentive for people to increase how much they’re spending on electricity and on machines.”