As the price of bitcoin soars past $56,000, the cryptocurrency's negative environmental impact is becoming harder to ignore. Energy-hogging crypto miners have been blamed for power outages in Iran, while China — a crypto mining hotbed — is cracking down on the practice as it takes a heavier hand with polluting industries. More such crackdowns may be needed to keep crypto's carbon emissions under control. According to research released this week, bitcoin's record-high prices have created a crypto mining backlog such that, even if the price falls, emissions from mining the virtual currency are likely to stay high for ... (full story)