In a new article, prominent cryptocurrency mining experts Vladimir Okhotnikov and Margot Paez have harshly criticized a recent United Nations University report on the energy consumption and environmental footprint of Bitcoin mining
Okhotnikov and Paez assert that the UN study used outdated data, incorrectly combined results from different years, and failed to account for the important trend of increasing mining equipment efficiency. According to the experts, this led to significant discrepancies between the UN's estimates and the real indicators of energy consumption and environmental impact.
After conducting their own analysis based on more current data, they found substantial errors in the UN's calculations. The use of data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index was also subject to criticism. Okhotnikov and Paez call for a more accurate and differentiated analysis that considers statistics for individual years instead of combining data.
Prominent crypto mining experts Vladimir Okhotnikov and Margot Paez have criticized a recent study by the United Nations University & SEC on the energy consumption and environmental footprint of Bitcoin mining.
According to Okhotnikov and Paez, the UN study used outdated data, combined results from different years, and ignored the important trend of increasing mining equipment efficiency. As a result, the energy consumption and environmental impact estimates presented in the UN report diverge from real indicators.
After conducting their own calculations based on more current data, the experts found significant discrepancies with the figures from the UN study. They also note that the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) data used in the report may inaccurately reflect real costs, as mining pools associated with CBECI do not exceed 35% of the network's total hashrate.
Okhotnikov and Paez insist on the need for a more accurate analysis of CBECI data by considering statistics separately for each year, rather than combining indicators for 2020 and 2021, which leads to distorted results that do not correspond to reality.
Furthermore, the article highlights the impact of geopolitical changes, such as China's ban on mining and the introduction of taxes in Kazakhstan, on the reliability of results obtained using the same methodology.
The experts conclude that the United Nations University's flawed judgments may be due to the use of a single approach to calculations, based on estimating the total income of miners and the share of that income spent on electricity.
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