GETTY Bitcoin has 'green issues'

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Last week Morgan Stanley claimed bitcoin’s electricity consumption in 2018 could exceed that used by the entire country of Argentina. Analysts at Morgan Stanley noted the crypto giant’s power demand this year (c.120-140TWh) represents 0.6 per cent of world consumption, or, in short the consumption of Argentina, as reported last week by the Financial Times. The electricity usage comes from the computers used around the world to verify transactions, this “mining” technology solves complex maths problems whose solutions are then used to validate new transactions. These are then added to the blockchain ledger. As governments raise concerns over the drain on the national grid, countries like China have begun telling local authorities to regulate the vast amounts of power bitcoin mines use. Hypothetically speaking, if the cost of electricity was to climb and the value of bitcoin was to fall, it would cost the bitcoin miner too much to make it all worthwhile. This is not ideal for mainstream finance world, already casting an eye across at cryptocurrencies with a degree of suspicion.

GETTY Lots of bitcoin mines are in China

Bitcoin mining consumes more electricity than 20 plus European countries. That's a problem. Ripple spokesperson

Aless Sollberger, founder & CEO EvermoreHealth told Express.co.uk that a single bitcoin transaction consumes energy equivalent to powering a US household for one week, while Susanne Baker, head of environment and compliance at TechUK, says that the energy use is very likely to rise as more bitcoin users join and more transactions occur. However, Ms Baker says a digital currency need not operate on a blockchain and there are cryptocurrencies which do not operate using bitcoin-type mining. As such, these do not require a lot of computer power and electricity. Ripple is one such currency and a spokesperson for the firm told Express.co.uk that XRP was designed with the ambition of removing the flaws of other digital assets, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The spokesperson said: “Bitcoin mining consumes more electricity than 20 plus European countries. That's a problem. “In addition to being slow and costly to use in transactions, these digital assets also use an incredible amount of energy because they are mined. “XRP, on the other hand, is designed to settle quickly, in seconds, inexpensive, at fractions of a penny, with minimal energy consumption.”

Cryptocurrency price: A year in charts Mon, March 12, 2018 Compare crypto currencies (Ripple, Bitcoin, Ethereum, LiteCoin) on value, market cap and supply for the past year Play slideshow coindesk.com 1 of 10 LiteCoin is going down with the market dip

But then we arrive back at some of the controversial issues surrounding Ripple's protocol. The spokesperson said: “XRP transactions are validated through a process called consensus, versus proof of work, mining, which Bitcoin and Ethereum rely on. “As a result, XRP doesn't consume much more energy than a regular server. XRP is the only digital asset out there that does, as far as I'm aware. Ripple told Express.co.uk the level of energy consumption is a really important factor for financial institutions and other businesses. He said: “We frequently hear that XRP is preferred over other digital assets because of its speed, low cost, and low energy use.” The problem for bitcoin holders remains - how a so-called currency of the future can be so dependent on burning fossils fuels to power itself?