Ethical Implications of bitcoin

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Today I will be writing on the implications of using bitcoin on an ethical level as there are a lot of implications the use of bitcoin brings on the ethical level so I will be delving in to this in my article here, which begs the question what are the ethical implications of bitcoin use.

Ethical Implications of using bitcoin

One of the ethical implications the use of bitcoin raises is the environmental impact of bitcoin mining. Well the mining of bitcoin requires a great deal of electrical power and this high consumption of electricity by the mining process of bitcoin leads emission of carbon which is harmful to the environment and leads thus to degradation of the environment. This is one of the issues that made China ban bitcoin mining in 2021 because of the environmental impact it has. This has lead considerably to questioning bitcoin sustainability and for those that even participate in bitcoin network and mining process their ethical responsibility are often called into question.

Well true the service provided by bitcoin has made it possible for all to gain a measure of financial inclusion which otherwise was not provided by the traditional financial systems bitcoin on the underhand has the potential to ensure that the unbanked population are given access to financial services but the thing there is that even in this there is an issue as it requires a level of technogical devices and other network services to be able to access the financial services provided by bitcoin which thus acts as a barrier for people without sufficient access to technogy to gain access to financial services which eventually creates inequalities which is already prevalent as it is.

Another ethical implications that bitcoin brings with it is that this asset class true promises a lot but then it's a highly speculative and volatile asset class and also too volatile to be trusted as a currency as well, as such if either as a currency or asset bitcoin is just too unstable for investors and participants and most times when people aren't properly grounded and enter this space the manipulations present in the market alone actually raises a level of ethical concerns as it regards fairness or even transparency so to speak in the cause of financial practice.

Also bitcoin has often being used as a perfect medium for lundering of dirty money and tax evasion and other illicit activities, it's become the platform where criminals could carry out transactions seemlessly without detection now knowing that bitcoin could possibly folster this illicit activities means that instead of helping to prevent criminal activities the pseudonymous nature of bitcoin transactions means malicious transactions could take place without any trace which no doubt raises ethical question.

Energy consumption and privacy concerns in the ethical implications of using bitcoin

Well another ethical implications that comes with bitcoin use is privacy concerns, yes blockchain offers robust security to the bitcoin network but information is not entirely annoymous, because of the way blockchain is when one makes a transaction is open to all and can easily be traced by all which ofcourse is invasion of users privacy as everyone can know about all your transaction details every thing, from the time to volume and to the address, one can't make a transaction that others won't be aware of this is another ethical implications of using bitcoin that arises.

The great deal of computational power required for bitcoin mining is a major issue as there are places where they merely struggle to use energy to carry out daily needs now having power concentrated on a particular area for the use of mining bitcoin in an area that already manages electric power call into question the ethics of using or consuming such resources needed for survival for a purpose viewed as secondary or even non-essential for man survival. I mean why would the mining take much electrical resources to the point it leaves the area with little or not enough energy to carry out life essential matters not to talk of the dangerous carbon emissions.

So indeed privacy concerns and high consumption of energy in the mining of bitcoin is one major ethical implications that comes with the use of bitcoin, if only this could be solved to make the use of bitcoin more safer.

Conclusion

No doubt despite how revolutionary the blockchain technogy is and how wonderful bitcoin is for a fact it has its issues and it almost seems like the environment has to pay a price for the availability of bitcoin which many feels shouldn't be so, I mean why can't bitcoin be like other assets or other currency, well I guess that's what makes it unique, unique problems and unique benefits.