Tesla chief Elon Musk has actually agreed with Twitter employer Jack Dorsey, who has stated that bitcoin "incentivises" renewable resource, in spite of specialists cautioning otherwise.
The cyrptocurrency's carbon footprint is as large of a few of the world's most significant cities, research studies recommend.
Mr Dorsey claims that could alter if bitcoin miners worked hand-in-hand with eco-friendly energy firms.
One expert stated it was a "cynical attempt to greenwash" bitcoin.
Bitcoin could thwart China's environment modification targets. China, where more than two-thirds of power is from coal, accounts for more than 75% of bitcoin mining around the world.
The mining procedure to generate brand-new bitcoin includes solving complex mathematical equations, which needs large quantities of calculating power.
New sets of transactions are added to bitcoin's blockchain (the journal that records the cryptocurrency's transactions) every 10 minutes by miners from all over the world.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Mr Dorsey said that "bitcoin incentivises renewable resource", to which Mr Musk responded "True".
The tweet comes soon after the release of a White Paper from Mr Dorsey's digital payment services firm Square, and international possession management business ARK Invest.
Entitled "Bitcoin as crucial to an abundant, clean energy future", the paper argues that "bitcoin miners are unique energy buyers", due to the fact that they use flexibility, pay in a cryptocurrency, and can be based anywhere with a web connection.
" By combining miners with renewables and storage projects, we believe it could enhance the returns for job investors and developers, moving more solar and wind projects into lucrative territory," it stated.
Author and bitcoin critic David Gerard explained the paper as a "negative exercise in bitcoin greenwashing".
" The truth is: bitcoin works on coal," he told the BBC.
He offered the example of how a mishap at a coal mine in Xinjiang indicated it had to momentarily close, causing power cuts across the location and crippling the capability to mine brand-new bitcoins.
" This slowed the blockchain down considerably ... and coincided with the current bitcoin rate drop," he said.
" Bitcoin mining is so awful and outright that the number one job of bitcoin promoters is to make excuses for it - any reason at all."
One bitcoin is presently worth $53,000 (₤ 38,000) and the cost hike has caused a rise in demand for new coins.
A current research study recommended that the quantity of bitcoin mining taking place in China might threaten the nation's emission decreases targets.
On the other hand, analysis by the University of Cambridge suggests the bitcoin network uses more than 121 terawatt-hours (TWh) every year, which would rank it in the top 30 electrical energy customers worldwide if it was a nation.
There are some cryptocurrency miners based in countries such as Iceland and Norway, where most energy production is nearly 100% eco-friendly, by means of hydro-electricity and geothermal energy.
Writing in Medium, bitcoin professional Phil Geiger explained that "bitcoin mining rewards the most energy effective miners with the most benefit".
" Mining is about maximising the number of hashes (computations) per kW of electrical power," he wrote.
" Currently, the most efficient way to create the greatest hashes/k is through making use of solar energy and hydro-electric, due to the fact that those are the least expensive ways to produce electricity."