Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows people to buy and sell things like a type of cash. Currently, the bitcoin market is thriving, and there is an average of 400,000 daily transactions in the bitcoin market. If bitcoin is a type of cash even available to purchase a Tesla, why are people claiming this cryptocurrency as ‘dangerous?
    
Although most people have heard of bitcoin, they do not know why it’s dangerous to purchase bitcoins. First, they must understand how the bitcoin market works. Like a stock market, people invest, or purchase, parts of a bitcoin using actual cash. However, while stock markets have trading restrictions, the bitcoin market does not. This means that the prices of bitcoin can fluctuate tremendously, and people can lose their money in no time. Also, the stock market has a daily trading time, while the bitcoin market is open all night. People will have to check the bitcoin market incessantly to make sure they are not losing any money. Like this, the bitcoin market will fluctuate continuously, and all buyers will be seeking to create profits by selling their bitcoins. These extreme fluctuations are dangerous economically, but did you know the bitcoin market also causes environmental issues?

Picture Credit: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/11/26/crypto-boom-shaken-as-bitcoin-plunges-along-with-other-coins

“Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind,” Gates said in an interview on Clubhouse with New York Times. As bitcoin becomes better known, more people are joining the bitcoin market. Due to this increasing trend in the bitcoin market, Bitcoin mining reportedly generates 37 million tons of carbon dioxide every single year. What is more, bitcoin mining uses more electricity per year than the entire country of Argentina and Norway. The dangers of bitcoin were not just limited to the financial market. The bitcoin market is using enormous amounts of energy, which is one of the major causes of global warming. While most people focus on the covid-19 issue, we should also take action and realize the huge amounts of electricity used in bitcoin mining and find ways to make bitcoin transactions more energy efficient.

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