The Environmental Burden of the United States’ Bitcoin Mining Boom ⇥ nature.com

Gianluca Guidi, et al., in a peer-reviewed article in Nature Communications:

[…] 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. […]

To borrow a phrase: yes, the planet got destroyed, but for a beautiful moment in time we solved a lot of Sudokus to buy drugs. Hodl, and so forth.