On April 14 of this year, the price of a single Bitcoin reached what was then an all-time high of around USD 64,870. Just over a month later, the price of the world’s most popular digital currency had tumbled to USD 34,259. A significant driver behind this sudden drop was the news that China had begun a sweeping crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry, driven by concerns around financial risk and excessive energy consumption. Bitcoin “mining” — the process by which transactions are verified and new coins are created – is highly energy-intensive, leading to criticism over the currency’s oversized carbon......