The recent Bitcoin halving has put a spotlight on the popular cryptocurrency—and raised new questions about the environmental footprint of the crypto world. Mining popular digital currencies demands a tremendous amount of energy, and the reduced supply of Bitcoin will spur operations that are centered on that goal to work even harder. That has environmentalists (and some politicians) worried that crypto’s impact on the climate could grow, just as artificial intelligence is putting an even bigger strain on power grids and extreme weather events push some states to their limits. Globally, cryptocurrency accounted for ... (full story)