The two largest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, use about twice as much electricity in one year as we use throughout Sweden, according to estimates by the University of Cambridge and the site Digiconomist.
Finansinspektionen's Director General Erik Thedéen and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's Director General Björn Risinger describe the development as worrying.
They believe that the extraction of cryptocurrencies leads to large emissions of greenhouse gases and threatens the necessary climate change.
- Bitcoin and ethereum use a technology that draws extremely much energy, says Thedéen to SVT.
Suggests several actions
On Dagens Nyheter's debate page, the heads of government write that the method used to extract cryptocurrencies must be regulated, and propose three measures.
The first is that the EU should investigate a ban on the energy-intensive "proof of work" method used to create cryptocurrencies.
There are other extraction methods that are estimated to be able to reduce energy use by almost 100 percent, according to the authors of the article.
The authorities also recommend that Sweden oppose the establishment of new cryptocurrencies.
The third proposal is that companies that strive to have a business in line with the Paris Agreement should not be able to call themselves sustainable if they trade and invest in cryptocurrencies that have been extracted using the "proof of work" method.
Criticism: Wrong way with prohibition
Andreas Kennemar works for a company that brokers cryptocurrencies.
He does not agree with the authors' views.
- They advocate bans and it is usually not a good way forward, he says.
Kennemar also questions that cryptocurrencies are described as a major energy problem, while the establishment of data centers is left uncommented.
- If Sweden has problems with how renewable energy should be enough, why do we then invite more energy-thirsty internet companies?
He also believes that the cryptocurrency industry strives to be able to reuse energy that would otherwise be wasted, which he sees as an incentive to maintain cryptocurrency extraction.
- You make it sound like a high energy utilization is equal to a lot of emissions, it is not true.
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In the clip, Boden's municipal councilor, Claes Nordmark (S), explains the importance of Sweden being at the forefront when it comes to server halls and cryptocurrencies.
Photo: SVT