Bitcoin remains the most polluting cryptocurrency in 2022 while Ethereum massively reduced emissions: report

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by total market value, remains the most polluting cryptocurrency in 2022 with its environmental footprint still increasing, while the second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum saw a massive reduction in emissions, according to a report by market data provider Forex Suggest.

Bitcoin accounted for 86.3 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2022, growing from 56.8 million tons in 2021, according to Forex Suggest’s Global Impact of Crypto Trading report published last week.

Ethereum, however, saw its CO2 emissions drop from 21.95 million tons in 2021 to 8,824 tons last year, according to the data provider, following an adjustment in September to its blockchain that no longer requires the energy-consuming mining process, known in the industry as “the Merge”.

Ranked by Forex Suggest as the second-most polluting cryptocurrency in 2021, Ethereum in 2022 ranked behind a range of cryptocurrencies selected by the website in total emissions, including Polygon and Cardano.

Cryptocurrency Litecoin replaced Ethereum as the second-most polluting token on Forex Suggest’s ranking. The token, while using only 19 kilowatt hours (kWh) per transaction, emitted 525,212 tons of CO2 in 2022 with a large amount of transactions, according to Forex Suggest, which cited a range of data sources including BitInfo Charts and Digiconomist.