An Order-of-Magnitude Estimate of the Relative Sustainability of the Bitcoin Network
https://cdn.panteracapital.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Relative-Sustainability-of-the-Bitcoin-Network.pdfA critical assessment of the Bitcoin mining industry, gold production industry, the legacy banking system, and the production of physical currency
Executive Summary
There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, with thisfascinating
nascent technology facing several unsubstantiated claims by uninformed individuals that Bitcoin is highly
unsustainable from a social, economic and environmental point of view. This paper aims to disprove or
support these claims about the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, and provide an order-of-magnitude
comparison of the relative sustainability of Bitcoin when compared with the incumbent banking industry, the
gold production industry, and the process of printing and minting of physical currency.
Widely available public information strongly refutes claims that Bitcoin is unsustainable, and shows that the
social, environmental and economic impacts are a minuscule fraction of the impacts that the legacy wealth
and monetary systems have on our society and environment.
