Real money is being cashed out to pay for mining expansion which will cause real environmental issues if this keeps up. I wonder what Bitcoin's contribution to global warming is, and how many people will ultimately lose their lives or homes as a result in the long run just from the idiotic waste of energy

The cryptocurrency has wowed markets this year with breakneck gains as investors flocked to an asset that exists only in cyberspace. But the laborious creation of each digital bitcoin by private computer networks has real-world consequences in the form of massive energy use -- including from fuels that cause the most pollution.

Eight 100-meter-long metal warehouses in northern China are a case in point. Bitmain Technologies Ltd. runs a server farm in Erdors, Inner Mongolia, with about 25,000 computers dedicated to solving the encrypted calculations that generate each bitcoin. The entire operation runs on electricity produced with coal, as do a growing number of cryptocurrency “mines” popping up in China.

(Source: Bloomberg)