When it comes to creating its national cryptocurrencies, the Bank of Canada believes it will not have to rely on ‘wasteful mining technologies.’ The Bank of Canada’s deputy governor has already stated that their proposal to generate cryptocurrencies will be far more eco-friendly than Bitcoin.

Bank of Canada Believes their Cryptocurrencies Will Be More Eco-Friendly

The Bank of Canada is not yet ready to launch its cryptocurrency. Timothy Lane, Bank of Canada’s deputy governor has already stated that their initiative towards creating their cryptocurrencies will be far more eco-friendly than Bitcoin. 

Lane told Penticton Western News that the new currency will rely on current faith in Canada’s fiat currency, including its potential environmental effect. Citizens will continue to trust their central bank, rather than a proof-of-work consensus method employed by Bitcoin and Ethereum, he added.

“Of course, it means we wouldn’t have to rely on those ecologically, extremely inefficient mining technology that we’ve seen with cryptocurrencies,” he remarked at a Canadian Chamber of Commerce discussion.

Canada Will Not Rely On ‘Wasteful Mining Technologies’

The debate about Bitcoin’s energy-intensive mining activities has heated up in recent weeks. This was worsened by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, saying that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin payments for its vehicles, just months after offering this option.

To be clear, I strongly believe in crypto, but it can’t drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021

While other Canadian panelists acknowledged that there is now a drive to employ renewable energy sources for crypto mining, Lane stated that this effort would not change the reality that Bitcoin consumes an inordinate amount of energy that could be utilized for a more “useful purpose.”

“Clean energy may be used to replace dirty energy, but clean energy has other applications as well. “If you use an extra gigawatt of renewable energy to mine Bitcoins, that’s a gigawatt less that might be utilized for anything useful,” stated the BOC deputy governor.

At the same time, Lane underlined that, for the time being, Canada’s central bank does not see the necessity for its digital currency. This might change if cryptocurrencies become broadly accepted and begin to replace fiat cash used by banks.

Meanwhile, recent research claimed that the coronavirus outbreak had boosted the global use of digital currencies.