Sustainability
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How Green Is Your Currency?

Explore the Interactive Tool

Energy Consumption for Cash, Credit Cards and Crypto

Moving money carries cost—and not just the fee on your transaction or the value of your payment.

Whether it’s in cash, on a credit card or with crypto, every transaction you make consumes energy, and therefore, emits pollutants into the environment.

The impact of this is startling when you look at the total transactions across an entire year—for any one form of currency.

Find out more about the environmental cost of some of the world’s most popular and innovative currencies, and start making more educated choices about how you transact.

How Does XRP Compare to Other Currencies?

Learn more about the methodology
Change Inputs

Comparing
Transaction Data

Number of Transactions:

  • 20M
  • 40M
  • 60M
  • 80M
  • 100M
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Learn more about the methodology

Energy Consumption of Portugal

Comparing Million Transactions in 2019

The country of Portugal consumes 46.94 billion Kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy annually. Explore how much energy today’s various currencies consume in relation to Portugal.

  • Portugal

    Bitcoin

    kWh

  • Ethereum

    kWh

  • Cash

    kWh

  • XRP

    kWh

  • Portugal
    Visa

    Visa

    kWh

  • Portugal
    Mastercard

    Mastercard

    kWh

CO2 Emissions from Airline Flights

Comparing Million Transactions in 2019

A 12-hour flight from London to Hong Kong releases 3 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Discover how much CO2 different forms of currency release in comparison to emissions from airline flights.

  • Bitcoin

    metric tons of CO2

  • Ethereum

    metric tons of CO2

  • Cash

    metric tons of CO2

  • XRP

    metric tons of CO2

  • Visa

    metric tons of CO2

  • Mastercard

    metric tons of CO2

Gas Consumption by the Gallon

Comparing Million Transactions in 2019

An Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) carries approximately 120 million gallons of gas. Measure the environmental impact between currencies in relation to the amount of gas they would consume in the real-world.

  • Bitcoin

    Gallons of Gas

  • Ethereum

    Gallons of Gas

  • Cash

    Gallons of Gas

  • XRP

    Gallons of Gas

  • Visa

    Gallons of Gas

  • Mastercard

    Gallons of Gas

Breaking Down Individual Transactions

Looking at individual transactions below, compare how a single transaction across each form of currency equates to kWh, CO2 emissions, and gallons of gas.

Kilowatt Hour CO2 Emissions* Gallons of Gas
Bitcoin		 951.58 kWh/tx 4.66-7 Mt/tx 75.7 gal/tx
Ethereum		 42.8633 kWh/tx 2.73-8 Mt/tx 2.3867 gal/tx
XRP		 0.0079 kWh/tx 4.5-12 Mt/tx 0.00063 gal/tx
Visa		 0.0008 kWh/tx 4.6-13 Mt/tx 0.00006 gal/tx
Mastercard		 0.0006 kWh/tx 5.1-13 Mt/tx 0.00005 gal/tx
Paper Currency		 0.0440 kWh/tx 2.32-11 Mt/tx 0.00350 gal/tx

*Calculations in million tonne (Mt)