Bitcoin surpassed $100,000

The aim of this publication is to identify the various carbon issues of Bitcoinseen as a means of payment, investment support or as an asset changing economic behavior. It is not intended to take a position on this tool or on the debates to which it is the subject.

The recent explosion in the price of Bitcoin, which recently exceeded the symbolic bar of 100 000$/BTChas attracted a lot of attention and revived criticism relating to its environmental footprint, due to its increasing energy consumption (121 TWh in 2023 according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity consumption index (CBECI)or 0.5% of global electricity production, or 35% of UK electricity production). We will show:

• That unless it represents a significant share of payments and drastically reduces the carbon intensity associated with securing the network, the carbon footprint per payment remains higher via Bitcoin compared to a traditional payment but this observation must be qualified by the marginal carbon cost of a near-zero transaction

• That this metric must be supported by others, Bitcoin being less received today as a payment instrument than as an investment object, or even as a potential store of value.

• That by comparing the carbon footprint per $ invested in Bitcoin, in real estate, on a Livret A, and in gold, the performance of Bitcoin is lower compared to that of gold and real estate , but very much lower than that of the Livret A today, even in the perspective of decarbonization of the economy.

• That the question of the climate point of view for Bitcoin must first be part of a broader economic and monetary discussion: the belief in its appreciation from the price point of view can drain part of the flows which would be oriented towards the financing of the real economy through increased savings, which is likely to lead to two opposing effects: a slowdown in physical flows resulting from less consumption in favor of savings, but the risk, at the same time, to insufficiently finance the effort ecological transition. It is this effect which is the most decisive from a climate point of view.