The enormous use of energy needed to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is proving to be very contentious, but alternative methods pose far too much of a security risk.

The recent warning that electricity use at bitcoin mining facilities in Iceland may exceed that consumed annually by the country’s homes, which could in turn lead to a potential energy shortage, was slightly alarmist in tone. But it showcases the huge amount of computational power needed to mine cryptocurrencies.

Is the current cryptocurrency mining process really as wasteful and “useless” as critics say, and is it in need of a more efficient and cleaner system?