IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-58287-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The environmental burden of the United States’ bitcoin mining boom

Author

Listed:
  • Gianluca Guidi

    (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    University of Pisa
    IMT School for Advanced Studies)

  • Francesca Dominici

    (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

  • Nat Steinsultz

    (WattTime)

  • Gabriel Dance

    (The New York Times)

  • Lucas Henneman

    (George Mason University)

  • Henry Richardson

    (WattTime)

  • Edgar Castro

    (UCLA Fielding School of Public Health)

  • Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi

    (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    UCLA Fielding School of Public Health)

  • Scott Delaney

    (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

Abstract

Bitcoin mines—massive computing clusters generating cryptocurrency tokens—consume vast amounts of electricity. The amount of fine particle (PM2.5) air pollution created because of their electricity consumption and its effect on environmental health is pending. In this study, we located the 34 largest mines in the United States in 2022, identified the electricity-generating plants that responded to them, and pinpointed communities most harmed by Bitcoin mine-attributable air pollution. From mid-2022 to mid-2023, the 34 mines consumed 32.3 terawatt-hours of electricity—33% more than Los Angeles—85% of which came from fossil fuels. We estimated that 1.9 million Americans were exposed to ≥0.1 μg/m3 of additional PM2.5 pollution from Bitcoin mines, often hundreds of miles away from the communities they affected. Americans living in four regions—including New York City and near Houston—were exposed to the highest Bitcoin mine-attributable PM2.5 concentrations (≥0.5 μg/m3) with the greatest health risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianluca Guidi & Francesca Dominici & Nat Steinsultz & Gabriel Dance & Lucas Henneman & Henry Richardson & Edgar Castro & Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi & Scott Delaney, 2025. "The environmental burden of the United States’ bitcoin mining boom," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58287-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58287-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58287-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-58287-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58287-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.