Crypto-currencies trading and energy consumption

Abstract

This study empirically investigates the effects of crypto-currencies trading on the energy consumption as an important consequence of blockchain technology on climate change. In this article, we use the data of Bitcoin trading volume as well as all crypto-currencies trading volumes for the period going from 2014M1 to 2017M12 to investigate the effects on the primary energy consumption. Our empirical results show a positive correlation between crypto-currencies trading volumes and the energy consumption. Moreover, the crypto-currencies trading volume has a Granger-causality to energy consumption in the period of study indicating that these two variables have a long-run co-integration. In other words, our findings show a significant positive (and increasing) influence of cryptocurrency activities on the energy consumption in both short-run and long-run. This study investigates one step further in examining the effects of residuals of the crypto-currencies trading volume on the residuals in energy consumption to confirm that a higher trading volume in cryptocurrencies might cause a higher energy consumption. Our findings show a negative influence of the trading of crypto-currencies - precisely, the higher the crypto-currency activities are, the higher the energy consumption is, affecting therefore the environment.