I attended this week’s Table Talk about cryptocurrency and the bitcoin because I had heard it covered extensively by the news media but I didn’t really understand how it worked. For me, it was difficult to wrap my mind around how something intangible could have any value. When a person invests in the stock market, he/she is putting faith in a company’s ability to manufacture goods or services but investing in cryptocurrency has no such guarantee. From my very surface understanding on the topic, I’m really not in a position to come to any conclusion about whether the bitcoin is a bubble waiting to burst or the future of all currency. I would rather watch this play out from the sidelines than actively get involved.

One aspect that I had never considered was the environmental impact of the system of bitcoin. Individuals or groups can use computers to solve complex mathematical problems in exchange for bitcoins in a process called ‘mining.’ Countries like China and Russia are major players in this. According to this CNN article, the bitcoin uses about 32 terawatts of energy every year which is enough power to run 3 million American households. Experts forecast this energy usage will increase in the coming years. Obviously, this seems to counter the efforts to decrease energy consumption to fight climate change. It is true that there is a limit to the quantity of bitcoin so energy use won’t go on uncapped, but I found this to be an interesting consideration often overlooked when discussing cryptocurrency and the bitcoin in particular.