- A UK poll recently found that 45% of respondents favored a ban on cryptocurrencies on the back of environmental concerns
- The poll showed that respondents were under the assumption that all tokens are mined like Bitcoin
- The poll also showed an anticipated divide in opinions of cryptocurrencies based on age
A recent poll conducted by the UK government found that 45% of the 3,000 people surveyed favored a ban on cryptocurrencies due to their impact on the global climate. The poll, conducted as the COP26 climate change meeting continues in Glasgow, found an unsurprising age disparity in those for and against a ban, while the fact that more people wanted to ban the entire sector based on the few proof-of-work cryptocurrencies showed that there is a dearth of education in the general population.
Younger Age Group Wouldn’t Support Ban
The YouGov poll, which, among other things, asked individuals if they would support a ban on cryptocurrencies on environmental grounds, found that the biggest age group favoring a ban was the 65+ age category. Those least in favor were, conversely, the two categories comprising the youngest age group – 18-34. The survey highlighted the fact that younger people have a much better appreciation of the merits of cryptocurrencies, with the responses shifting notably with age:
Education Sorely Needed on Cryptocurrencies
The most interesting observation however is that those who said they would support a ban seemingly had no idea that out of the thousands of cryptocurrencies out there, only a handful use the harmful proof-of-work mining algorithm that causes pollution. The vast majority, over 99.9%, use a variety of other faster algorithms, but here again we see the power of the press.
Ever since Bitcoin started to gain in popularity and have genuine use cases, the anti-Bitcoin media has turned to its environmental impact as the next stick to beat it with. This criticism has spread to NFTs, even though only those minted on the Ethereum network can be accused of damaging the environment, and this ESG concern has tarred the entire crypto ecosystem with the same brush.
As we know, governments are much keener to ban cryptocurrencies outright and criticize every element of them rather than educate their citizens on their uses, and with the media tarring every cryptocurrency with the same brush it is clear that it will take some time for the truth to come through.
