Bitcoin influencer and podcaster Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano said there was no need to “apologize” for Bitcoin’s energy consumption because “vital things in the world use energy”.
He made the comments in a December 27 interview on CNBC’s morning news and talk show, Squawk Box, with Joe Kernen.
During the interview, he claimed that many people are missing “key points” in the “climate argument” against the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem, particularly when it comes to comparisons with fiat currencies such as the US dollar:
“There is a linear relationship between energy use and the dollar system. To support more users and more transactions, we need to use more energy, more data centers, more bank branches, more ATMs. “
He added, “The Bitcoin blockchain does not have the same linear relationship with energy consumption, which means that regardless of the number of transactions per block, each block uses the same energy. As Bitcoin scales it becomes more efficient as you can add greater economic value to each of these blocks. “
“When it scales, #bitcoin because always more efficient, because you can pack more economic value into each of these blocks. In the legacy system, you have to use more energy with scaling … we shouldn’t apologize for the energy consumption. ” @APompliano on #btc Power consumption. pic.twitter.com/gFSMFz3ApU
– Squawk box (@SquawkCNBC) December 27, 2021
Bitcoin uses 8x the energy of Google and Facebook
The interview aired on the same day as the publication of new research from trading platforms that found that the energy consumption of the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem is eight times that of Google and Facebook combined.
The report said that “there are concerns about the amount of electricity such a small sector is consuming”. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Power Consumption indexThe BTC ecosystem consumes 125.04 terawatts per hour annually – similar to the energy consumption of a small country like Chile or the Philippines.
The controversy surrounding BTC’s energy consumption is far from new and is unlikely to resolve itself anytime soon. As previously reported by CointelegraphThe New York Digital Investment Group estimates that BTC mining will account for 0.9% of global CO2 emissions by 2030.
Related: Green Bitcoin: The Impact And Importance Of Energy Use For PoW
He’s been a busy man since Pomp’s interview with CNBC. On December 29th he was interviewed about BTC of three year old Lily Knight on “The Lily Show”.
That was my favorite interview that I had all year round. https://t.co/Hx1j28HFqh
– pump (@APompliano) December 28, 2021
