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The Swiss government has issued a set of recommendations to deal with the current energy crisis, including a ban on heated swimming pools and saunas (which completely undermines the concept of a sauna).

Is any Western/European country currently discussing a ban on cryptocurrencies, which are the perfect example of energy waste? It would be strange if people were urged to do extreme savings, but the industry that provides such huge energy usage, while providing no value added for the society, was not. However, I haven't heard of any planned measures yet.

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    Cryptocurrency mining is carried out in Europe at rates lower than the global average, and the total energy usage of Bitcoin (the biggest contributor) across the world is about 0.6% of global electric power production. Bitcoin (and some other cryptocurrencies) are wasteful overall, but I do not think that any country in Europe could materially reduce its electricity consumption by banning cryptocurrency. Kazakhstan or even the United States, perhaps.
    – Obie 2.0
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 16:37
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    @Obie2.0 what percentage is swimming pool heating?
    – Criticizing Israel not allowed
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 16:57
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    @user253751 - I never said that swimming pool heating would help much, either.
    – Obie 2.0
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 17:00
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    @Obie2.0 : 0.6% seems little on first glance, but considering it is of the total global consumption, it's still a lot. And that's only Bitcoin, and even though it's the biggest, all the others do add up.
    – vsz
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 4:09
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    @vsz - That's worldwide. Europe has disproportionately low Bitcoin energy consumption as a percentage of the total, to my understanding, whereas countries like Kazakhstan and the USA have higher.
    – Obie 2.0
    Commented Sep 7, 2022 at 4:11

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The New York Senate passed the U.S.’s first statewide moratorium on cryptocurrency mining, aimed at energy-intensive operations that use fossil fuels for power. Some miners even repurpose the whole power plants for mining. These may be coal - fired power plants unfortunately.

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