Longtime
Bitcoin
(BTC)
critic,
Alex
De
Vries
said
each
transaction
on
the
Bitcoin
network
uses
over
16,000
liters
of
water,
which
is
enough
to
fill
a
small
swimming
pool.
De
Vries
yesterday
published
a
research
paper
with
his
findings,
arguing
that
a
combination
of
miner
cooling
systems
and
the
water
consumption
fo
miner
energy
sources
are
behind
the
massive
usage.
The
findings
have
an
echo
of
De
Vries’
previous
criticisms
of
Bitcoin,
which
have
hitherto
centered
on
the
electricity
usage
of
bitcoin
mining.
His
tech
research
site
Digiconomist,
for
example,
keeps
a
log
of
the
footprint
of
each
bitcoin
transaction,
putting
it
on
par
with
“808,554
Visa
transactions
or
60,802
hours
of
watching
Youtube.”
The
validity
of
calculating
the
energy
cost
per
bitcoin
transaction
has,
however,
been
criticized
as
having
little
relevance
without
further
context.
Cambridge
University’s
Center
for
Alternative
Finance,
for
instance,
pointed
out
that
“transaction
throughput
is
independent
of
the
network’s
electricity
consumption.
Adding
more
mining
equipment
and
thus
increasing
electricity
consumption
will
have
no
impact
on
the
number
of
processed
transactions.”
Digiconomist’s
name
was
also
put
to
a
2017
prediction
that
Bitcoin
would
match
the
entire
world’s
entire
power
consumption
by
2020,
an
estimate
which
fell
into
a
similar
trap
of
predictions
from
the
early
1990s
about
internet
traffic
and
electricity
use.
De
Vries’
latest
offering
to
the
Bitcoin
discourse
was
met
with
criticism
by
Daniel
Batten,
founder
of
CH4-Capital,
a
startup
which
aims
to
remove
methane
from
the
atmosphere,
a
task
for
which
he
believes
bitcoin
mining
can
serve
a
purpose.
“De
Vries
has
a
history
of
making
predictions
which
have
proven
wildly
inaccurate,”
Batten
posted
on
X
(formerly
Twitter).
“Rather
than
acknowledge
error
and
move
on,
De
Vries
has
simply
pivoted
his
attack
into
other
areas,”
Batten
continued.
“Now
that
it
is
clear
Bitcoin’s
major
energy
source
is
not
coal
(as
De
Vries
had
falsely
claimed)
but
hydro,
Bitcoin
is
suddenly
bad
for
using
too
much
water.”
