OPINIONATED: Facts and Misinformation About ‘Green Bitcoin,’ With Jonathan Koomey

06/21/21 • 30 min

This week, “Opinionated” co-hosts Ben Schiller, Anna Baydakova and Danny Nelson are talking to Jonathan Koomey, researcher and book author.

This episode is sponsored by PumaPay.io.

Koomey, the author of “Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving” and “Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs,” spent a lot of time studying and debunking the current narrative around bitcoin’s impact on the environment.

In 2019, he conducted a study for CoinCenter, titled “Estimating Bitcoin Electricity Use: A Beginner’s Guide,” where he separates real numbers from baseless assumptions. Koomey likes to run numbers and he’s indifferent to bitcoin, so he stays cool above the raging fire of the bitcoin climate debates.

How much electricity does bitcoin actually consume? Is it a lot, and compared to what? What are the most reliable sources of actual numbers? Is buying carbon offsets a good way to make your bitcoin “green”?

Listen as Anna, Ben and Danny discuss these complicated topics with Jonathan.

Jonathan Koomey’s Twitter handle is: @jgkoomey.

Materials mentioned in this episodes:

Jonathan Koomey’s research for CoinCenter: “Estimating Bitcoin Electricity Use: A Beginner’s Guide”
Jonathan Koomey’s books: “Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving” and “Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs”
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance: Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI)
Danny Cullenward and David G. Victor, Making Climate Policy Work

750,000,000 PMA tokens are now up for grabs. By depositing today, you will become part of the next evolution of DeFi payments. Go to PumaPay.io.

Image credit: D-Keine /iStock/Getty Images Plus/ modified by Coindesk

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, “Opinionated” co-hosts Ben Schiller, Anna Baydakova and Danny Nelson are talking to Jonathan Koomey, researcher and book author.

This episode is sponsored by PumaPay.io.

Listen as Anna, Ben and Danny discuss these complicated topics with Jonathan.

Jonathan Koomey’s Twitter handle is: @jgkoomey.

Materials mentioned in this episodes:

Jonathan Koomey’s research for CoinCenter: “Estimating Bitcoin Electricity Use: A Beginner’s Guide”
Jonathan Koomey’s books: “Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving” and “Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs”
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance: Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI)
Danny Cullenward and David G. Victor, Making Climate Policy Work

750,000,000 PMA tokens are now up for grabs. By depositing today, you will become part of the next evolution of DeFi payments. Go to PumaPay.io.

Image credit: D-Keine /iStock/Getty Images Plus/ modified by Coindesk

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

OPINIONATED: Ransom and Legal Tender: Bitcoin's Diverging Paths on the Global Stage

This week, “Opinionated” co-hosts Ben Schiller, Anna Baydakova and Danny Nelson dig deep into two of the biggest storylines in crypto: the proliferation of ransomware (and what crypto’s got to do with it) and El Salvador’s upstart bid to become a global bitcoin capital.

This episode is sponsored by PumaPay.io.

Just over a month after ransomware group DarkSide held gas company Colonial Pipeline hostage for $4.4 million in bitcoin, there’s been a major development. The feds say they’ve gotten most of the payment back – an almost unheard of feat, and one shrouded in mystery.

How did they pull it off? The gang runs through some of the most popular theories, from FBI honeypot mixing services to good old police work. Then, they hash out what it might take to pull off the perfect crypto crime.

Even as the U.S. is moving to (possibly) crack down on bitcoin, another nation, El Salvador, is racing to embrace it. President Nayib Bukele closed out Miami’s crazed bitcoin conference with the blockbuster news that he’d make bitcoin legal tender. It's being framed as a means to give El Salvador’s majority unbanked population access to financial services – but is that really the case?

Ben, Anna and Danny discuss these and other topics, plus an update on where the ESG movement stands.

Ben Schiller’s Twitter handle is: @btschiller

Anna: @baidakova

Danny: @realDannyNelson

750,000,000 PMA tokens are now up for grabs. By depositing today, you will become part of the next evolution of DeFi payments. Go to PumaPay.io.

Image credit: metamorworks /iStock/Getty Images Plus/ modified by Coindesk

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Next Episode

OPINIONATED: Is China Opting Out of Crypto? Feat. Dovey Wan

This week, “Opinionated” co-hosts Ben Schiller and Anna Baydakova are talking to Dovey Wan, partner at San-Francisco-based VC Primitive Ventures.

This episode is sponsored by PumaPay.io.

China is getting serious about banning crypto. In a fresh onslaught on the industry this month, the country has blocked bank transfers related to crypto, and five regions, including the key hydropower province of Sichuan, have shut down the local miners. OTC desk operators are getting arrested en masse and mentions of crypto exchanges are getting censored on social media.

The market responded with another downfall starting June 21, Chinese miners are reportedly relocating to other countries, including the U.S., and crypto firms are looking for ways to survive in China without serving Chinese clients.

Dovey Wan has a good grasp of the way things operate in China, and she aptly unpacks the intricacies of the country’s power structure and the main forces behind the political and economic events.

Listen to the “Opinionated” co-hosts Ben Schiller and Anna Baydakova talking with Dovey about this latest crackdown, what it might be driven by and why it should be taken very seriously. Is China letting its crypto dominance go? How can this change the global crypto market, for good or bad?

Dovey Wan’s Twitter handle is: @DoveyWan.

CoinDesk stories mentioned in this episode:

750,000,000 PMA tokens are now up for grabs. By depositing today, you will become part of the next evolution of DeFi payments. Go to PumaPay.io.

Image credit: Andriy onufriyenko/iStock/Getty Images Plus/ modified by Coindesk

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at