This year’s bitcoin bull run has coincided with record levels of mining activity--in fact, it’s seen an 800% increase since $20,000 peak to 84 quintillion hashes per second in September, re-igniting the years’-old debate: how eco-friendly is crypto mining? For some crypto buffs, critics who squawk at the vast amounts of energy supposedly consumed by crypto mining and how it contributes to climate change are little more than churlish, pedantic party poopers. In one camp are the PoW (Proof-of-Work) maximalists who argue that bitcoin is the “most secure public chain” as measured by hashrate, but denying that bitcoin is ... (full story)