Athletes endorsing cryptocurrencies is dangerous for climate
I’m sitting down on my couch, enjoying a Trader Joe’s pizza and the NBA playoffs.
Suddenly, Stephen Curry takes over my screen. That’s not necessarily an unexpected occurrence, as the NBA superstar is currently leading his Golden State Warriors to a spot in the second round. But this time it wasn’t about basketball.
Instead, it was a commercial for FTX Crypto Derivatives Exchange. It wasn’t a bad commercial, as the bar is pretty low these days. It featured Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal jokingly describing Curry as a “crypto expert,” to which Curry responded with a promotion for FTX’s app and the ease it brings users who want to trade cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum.
Cryptocurrency has become a divisive issue, with many rolling their eyes at the idea of “digital money” and others desperately dumping their rainy day funds into the next bitcoin. If you’re a Twitter user, chances are you have seen tweets about crypto from the richest person on the planet, Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO faced accusations of a Securities Exchange Act violation when he seemingly controlled the price of dogecoin with any given tweet.
Crypto certainly has raised some interesting questions about government-regulated currencies versus decentralized banking systems, but here’s at least one certified problem with the concept: it’s terrible for the environment.
Digital currencies are decentralized systems that record transactions in a distributing ledger called a blockchain. To mine bitcoin or other cryptos, users must validate transactions made with the currency by solving a complex math problem. This transaction, called a proof of work mechanism, will award whoever solves the problem first with a fixed amount of cryptocurrency. Read that again.
Or don’t, it doesn’t really matter. Basically, to solve these problems, users run programs on their computers. To power a computer to run these programs, energy must be used. Users have a better chance at updating the blockchain and mining bitcoin with more powerful computers, which unsurprisingly requires more energy.
Mining cryptocurrency dumps carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The energy consumption used to mine bitcoin alone surpassed the amount of energy used in Norway in 2020. United States bitcoin mining produced nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2020. For reference, Exxon Mobil reported a carbon footprint of 650 million tons of carbon dioxide that same year.
As a society that is, or at least should be, seeking ways to reduce our carbon footprint, cryptocurrency seems like an unnecessary increase in carbon emissions.
So back to the commercial. I like Steph Curry. I think he is one of the best players to touch a basketball and seems like a good guy. But his endorsement of crypto is a little annoying, not only because of the environmental impacts but fiscally as well.
Cryptocurrency is a wealthy person’s game. Just 0.01% of bitcoin holders own 27% of the entire digital currency. Wealthy individuals have dumped money into cryptocurrencies in hopes that they can grow their wealth as the world catches on.
But why do we need to be on board in the first place? It’s harmful to the environment and essentially exists as a security blanket for millionaires.
So to Steph Curry, you can boost your crypto apps, but I might start channeling my 2016 anti-Warriors energy that led to the infamous 3-1 blown lead to LeBron James, who I’m sure is not invested in crypto.
Just kidding. Of course he is.
Patrick Warren is a junior exploring the relationship between sports and the climate. His column “The World of Sports” ran every other Wednesday.