Barry Silbert, the COE and founder of Digital Currency Group, pushed back against claims concerning bitcoin mining that had appeared in the Nature International Journal of Science.

The article explained that mining of bitcoin is three times costlier than gold and its emissions are substantial when it comes to the four largest cryptocurrencies. About 3 to 15 billion tons of carbon dioxide is produced from the mining process.

The mainstream media discussed the findings. MarketWatch, for instance, presented a headline that focused on the financial cost of the mining process.

Silbert seemed uneasy concerning the report and countered that mining is an extremely beneficial, and that it is more useful to mine cryptocurrency instead of gold – about fifty times more useful. Silbert received criticism for his position, which suggests that there is a serious debate in the industry concerning the cryptocurrency industry.

Further, last month a new report was released about the impact of bitcoin upon the environment. Nic Carter, a Bitcoin developer, discussed “native assumptions” concerning Bitcoin’s energy use. He added, “That major mainstream media organizations are reporting on this scathing indictment of the MSM. It’s simply fake news; to publish is either incompetence or fraud.” Carter’s position was in reference to a report in which researchers stated that bitcoin would lead to an increase in global warming by two degrees.

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