It used to be possible to mine cryptocurrency with a decent laptop. Today, it’s a job done by huge operations running power-intensive machines round the clock.
Bitcoin, the world’s biggest digital currency, now consumes as much energy as entire countries. Governments around the world are growing concerned by this. Some countries, such as China, have even banned crypto mining outright.
Some companies in the crypto sector are taking the criticism on board. Canadian crypto miner Hive, for example, relies on a local hydropower plant for an ethereum mining facility located in Boden, a small military town in Sweden.