


Proof of work acts as a sort of security system for cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and bitcoin since there’s no third party, like a bank, that oversees transactions. There’s a fee associated with making a transaction on Ethereum - and, ironically, that fee is called “gas.” Ethereum, like most major cryptocurrencies, is built on a system called “proof of work” that is incredibly energy hungry. And Akten admits in a blog about his methodology that the analysis was intentionally “ one-sided.” But here’s why there’s probably a hell of a lot of greenhouse gas emissions tied to NFTs: they’re largely bought and sold in marketplaces like Nifty Gateway and SuperRare that use the cryptocurrency Ethereum. Since the crypto art craze is pretty new, none of the data that’s out there so far has been reviewed by outside experts. If you (understandably) still have questions, you can read through our NFT FAQ. There’s also a lot of discussion about the massive electricity use and environmental impacts of NFTs.

NFTs have been making headlines lately, some selling for millions of dollars, with high-profile memes like Nyan Cat and the “deal with it” sunglasses being put up for auction. An NFT can either be one-of-a-kind, like a real-life painting, or one copy of many, like trading cards, but the blockchain keeps track of who has ownership of the file. NFT stands for “non-fungible token,” and it can technically contain anything digital, including drawings, animated GIFs, songs, or items in video games. NFTs allow you to buy and sell ownership of unique digital items and keep track of who owns them using the blockchain.
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He took the site offline after he discovered that it “has been used as a tool for abuse and harassment,” according to a note posted on the site. But then Akten saw that the website had been used to wrongly attribute an NFT marketplace’s emissions to a single NFT. Those numbers were shocking to some people. Akten, a digital artist, had analyzed 18,000 NFTs and found that the average NFT has a carbon footprint somewhat lower than Space Cat’s but still equivalent to more than a month’s worth of electricity for a person living in the EU. That website used to let people click through the estimated greenhouse gas emissions associated with individual NFTs until creator Memo Akten took it down on March 12th. Space Cat’s carbon footprint is equivalent to an EU resident’s electricity usage for two months, according to the website cryptoart.wtf. Take “Space Cat,” an NFT that’s basically a GIF of a cat in a rocket heading to the Moon. (For a more detailed look at what an NFT actually is, check out this breakdown.) There have been some initial estimates of how much power an NFT uses up and, consequently, how much planet-heating pollution that generates. The dirty world of NFTsĪn NFT is a unique cryptocurrency token that can take the form of pretty much anything digital - art, a GIF, or even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet. It costs about $5,000 to offset the emissions from one of his collections, he says. But for now, there are still greenhouse gas emissions associated with his NFTs. “I think you’re gonna see a lot of other artists do the same,” Beeple tells The Verge. Moving forward, he says his artwork will be carbon “neutral” or “negative,” meaning he’ll be able to completely offset emissions from his NFTs by investing in renewable energy, conservation projects, or technology that sucks CO2 out of the atmosphere. His work “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” was the one that got the eye-popping $69 million bid at Christie’s. ArtStation going into NFT and saying “but don’t worry! We’ll pay for carbon offsets” is the equivalent of setting a house on fire then placing a single potted plant on the burned property as “compensation”- BleachedRainbows March 9, 2021ĭigital artist Mike Winkelmann, who goes by the name Beeple, is a believer in a more sustainable future for NFTs.
