Petition Ban the mining of and trade in "proof of work" cryptocurrencies within the UK

Many popular cryptocurrencies use "proof of work" to secure transactions. Proof of work is incredibly wasteful: current estimates suggest that it currently uses around 0.5% of the world's electricity. We cannot afford this waste if we want to reach net zero.

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Many computers used to mine cryptocurrencies are specialised, can't be repurposed and rapidly become obsolete. This generates a lot of electronic waste. Recent estimates have concluded that mining operations consume 4% of specialised semiconductor manufacturing and 20% of all graphics card sales. A ban on proof of work based cryptocurrencies, would not be a full ban on cryptocurrencies but would instead incentivise a move to more environmentally friendly mining algorithms such as proof of stake.

This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months

786 signatures

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Date closed 1 June 2022
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