Cowpats are the new hot talk on the cryptocurrency scene

There is a hard-to-shift stink around cryptocurrency given the vast amounts of electricity needed by the supercomputers that “mine” the digital currency and audit transactions every nanosecond of every day, the world over.

Josh Riddett from Easy Crypto Hunter at a farm where animal waste is being used to power a cryptocurrency mine. PIC: SWNS.

But have the woeful environmental credentials of crypto been salved by the humble cow pat?

Bitcoin the original cryptocurrency, uses more electricity annually than the whole of Argentina and the United Arab Emirates while closer to home, the same level of power could run every kettle in the UK for 27 years.

In the West Midlands, a suspected cannabis farm turned out to be a crypto mine last month. No plants were found, but 100 computers and a hacked electricity supply indicated interest in a new form of dealing.

Since Tesla boss Elon Musk wiped billions off the value of global crypto markets after tweeting Bitcoin was bad for the environment, the search for solutions is moving faster than a supercomputer processor in the dark of night.

El Salvador, the first nation to authorise crypto as a legal tender,will use geothermal energy from the country’s volcanoes for mining of the cryptocurrency.

In Britain, a very British response has been found. Josh Riddett has set up a cryptocurrency mining business powered by cow manure. Farmers can earn 10 times more by running a cryptomining machine on power produced by dung that has gone through an anaerobic digester than by selling it on to energy companies.

Amid the hot air surrounding the crypto goldrush of the 21st century, it would still seem that where there is muck, there could be brass.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.