Bitcoin mining uses more energy per year than the whole country of Austria - and is more environmentally costly than BEEF production, study finds

• Researchers looked at average climate damages attributable to Bitcoin mining 
• Bitcoin mining is the energy-intensive process of making Bitcoins for circulation
• They say its toll on the climate is higher than beef or mining of precious metals

By Jonathan Chadwick For Mailonline

Bitcoin is the world's most popular cryptocurrency, but new research suggests its environmental impact may be underestimated.

In a new study, academics in the US have presented 'energy-related climate damages' from human activity in the past five years, including Bitcoin mining.

Bitcoin mining is the energy-intensive process of creating new Bitcoins by solving computational problems that verify transactions in the currency. 

The researchers say Bitcoin mining uses more energy per year than the whole of Austria and is more environmentally costly than beef production or the mining of precious metals such as gold and copper. 

Rather than being considered akin to 'digital gold', Bitcoin should be compared to energy-intensive products such as beef, natural gas and crude oil, the experts say.

Researchers at The University of New Mexico find digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin is more comparable to the impacts of extracting and refining crude oil than mining gold