Nick Boles, a former UK Member of Parliament for Grantham and Stamford from 2010 to 2019, took to Twitter Tuesday to criticize Bitcoin over its negative environmental impact.
He retweeted a post from BBC correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones showing that Bitcoin has overtaken Argentina in annual energy consumption. Boles commented on the Bitcoin energy data compiled by the University of Cambridge and presented in the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index by saying; “Central banks should ban the trading of it, and force anyone who holds Bitcoin and wants to use it in any transaction, to exchange it for another currency that does not have such a damaging side effect.”
Bitcoin’s footprint cause for debate
“There are other cyber currencies that do not harm in the real world at all,” he added, likely in reference to more environmentally- friendly proof-stake-networks. The former British MP is raising a pertinent issue that is of concern to environmentalists and environmentally conscious people in all industries. The surge in Bitcoin’s energy consumption has sparked debate within the crypto industry about how to reduce its footprint and offset negative environmental effects. Bitcoin is now estimated to consume 77.9 TWh per year with greenhouse emissions from mining reported to be have reached levels comparable to the whole of New Zealand.
The former MP did not have much to say about Bitcoin except his desire of wanting it banned. Boles has never had a history of commenting on Bitcoin at all either. The former lawmaker is mostly known for his strong stance on brexit after having quit the conservative party back in 2019. The tweet by Boles at a time when Bitcoin has received big endorsements from the likes of Elon Musk shows that the digital currency still has its fair share of detractors.
The UK has not instituted any strict measures against the crypto currency. The currency does however get treated as a foreign currency for most purposes.
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