Corbet, Shaen ORCID: 0000-0001-7430-7417 and Yarovaya, Larisa ORCID: 0000-0002-9638-2917 (2020) The environmental effects of cryptocurrencies. In: Corbet, Shaen ORCID: 0000-0001-7430-7417, Urquhart, Andrew ORCID: 0000-0001-8834-4243 and Yarovaya, Larisa ORCID: 0000-0002-9638-2917, (eds.) Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Munich/Boston, pp. 148-194. ISBN 9783110660807
Abstract
This chapter discusses the environmental aspects of cryptocurrency markets and as to how their
rapid growth can influence the environment and through which channels this process manifests.
While it is not popular discussion among investors, we find that environmental issues can be of
interest by wider society, students, policy makers and stakeholders of FinTech companies. Environmentalism has a long history, and controversy around this subject is remains quite substantial,
thus to not make our discussion over-complicated, in this chapter we will focus on the area where to
date, we possess the most thorough data and evidence through which we can build the case, namely
electricity consumption associated with the mining of cryptocurrencies. The total carbon footprint
of the industry is now estimated to have surpassed that of many large industrial nations. This
chapter investigates the multiple knock-on effects and consequential behaviour of this rapid growth
in energy usage, such as an increase in global temperature, the growth of mining companies who
have targeted third world infrastructures, and the complete shutdown of the internet as we know
it. Saying that, we encourage investors not to ignore these environmentalism matters, since we also
show that electricity consumption is proven to be one of the commonly used variable in valuation
of mineable cryptocurrencies and identification of their fair value, which affect investments returns
and should be considered in their trading strategies.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
---|---|
Refereed: | Yes |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Bitcoin; Cryptocurrencies; Volatility; Speculative Assets; Currencies; Energy Usage |
Subjects: | Business > Economics |
DCU Faculties and Centres: | DCU Faculties and Schools > DCU Business School |
Publisher: | Walter de Gruyter |
Official URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110660807-009 |
Copyright Information: | © 2020 Walter de Gruyter |
Use License: | This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License |
ID Code: | 25036 |
Deposited On: | 11 Dec 2020 14:49 by Thomas Murtagh . Last Modified 24 Aug 2021 03:30 |
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