Financial Times x Nikkei x Rhizomatiks Creative Collaboration “Watt is Money?”

Nikkei,Financial Times
September 27, 2022

Bitcoin came into this world in 2009 as a currency that exists only on the internet. As its recognition spread, its value has increased, getting many people engaged in Bitcoin mining to gain profits. However, Bitcoin mining requires massive computation to prevent data tampering, which raises concerns regarding energy consumption and environmental pollution.

“Watt is Money?” visualizes Bitcoin’s energy consumption by utilizing data taken from the “Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index(CBECI)”, which is made publicly available by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge to explain the energy consumption of Bitcoin’s mining. We hope to provide an understanding of the current situation around Bitcoin and chances to think about the future of crypto-currency.

This project has also had early access to new data from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, which presents estimates of the greenhouse gas emissions related to Bitcoin.

photo : Akari Nakamura

Credit
Creative Direction : Daito Manabe(Rhizomatiks), Satoshi Horii(Rhizomatiks)
Text : Juliet Riddell(The Financial Times), Scott Chipolina (The Financial Times) Aiko Munakata(Nikkei), Mio Tomita(Nikkei)
Art Direction:Hiroyasu Kimura(Rhizomatiks)
Design Direction/Management : Takuya Abe(Rhizomatiks), Hisao Sato(nadia)
Graphic Design : Naohiro Maeda(nadia)
Visual Programming : Futa Kera(Rhizomatiks)
Sound : Daito Manabe(Rhizomatiks)
Technical Support : Shintaro Kamijo(Rhizomatiks), Toshitaka Mochizuki(Rhizomatiks), Tatsuya Motoki(Rhizomatiks)
Project Management : Tomoyo Obata(Rhizomatiks), Naoki Ishizuka(Rhizomatiks), Joshua Ogawa(Nikkei)
Producers : Takao Inoue(Rhizomatiks), Juliet Riddell(Financial Times), Ryoichi Emura(Nikkei), Tia McPhee(Finantial Times)
Data Partner : The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School