The Environmental Aspect of Cryptocurrency Adoption

Sammanfattning

Cryptocurrencies are attracting the interest of investors and the public since they are perceived as an alternative to overcome the limitations of the current financial system. Cryptocurrencies are energy-hungry; therefore, the environmental cost represents a limitation to their adoption. Research regarding the environmental aspect of cryptocurrency adoption is lacking and tends to be biased or obsolete. Hence, this research aims to explore environmental sustainability by delving into the energy consumption factor, consensus mechanisms and the influence of social and economic factors. The research is conducted through a collection of primary data using semi-structured interviews that are analyzed following a grounded theory approach: constant comparative method. The primary research is enhanced by secondary data analysis that probes the impact of social and economic factors, network effect and risk variance. The findings indi-cated that perception regarding the environmental cost is subjective and highly influenced by economic and social factors and it highlighted the existence of a trade-off between environmen-tal sustainability, freedom, profitability, and security. The research contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the environmental aspect of cryptocurrency adoption and advises future researchers to explore the correlation between the environmental, social, and economic aspects of cryptocurrency adoption.