The surge of bitcoin price earlier this year could leave a carbon footprint the size of London’s, research has found.

Dutch economist Alex de Vries, who created the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, revealed that the record-breaking rise of bitcoin value at the start of the year could see the network consuming as much energy as all data centres globally.

He warned that as the price of Bitcoin increases, the negative externalities associated with Bitcoin mining also increases.

But the growing value of Bitcoin seems to show no signs of slowing, with a study published today finding that 31 per cent of investors expect the price of the cryptocurrency to hit a £50,000 valuation this year.

The Parliament Street research said that this would represent a surge of nearly 40 per cent compared current value, which is around £35,000.

A further 18 per cent of investors predict the value will hit £100,000 this year.

“Beyond…environmental impacts, the production of specialised mining devices might exacerbate the global shortage of chips, which could effect the ability to work from home, the economic recovery after the COVID-19 crisis, and the production of electric vehicles,” said the economist in a blog. “The increasing popularity of mining in countries like Iran could even threaten international safety. Policymakers are not completely powerless to stop this from materialising, but drastic joint and coordinated actions could be required to be effective.”

Cryptocurrency expert Stephen Kelso, head of capital markets at ITI Capital, said that the current digital asset market ‘bull run’ is different to the previous peak back in December.

“[That’s] because its price has this time been driven by a confluence of factors, including the rate of change of central bank balance-sheet expansions and improved information and understanding of macro conditions and how market forces are changing after a 37 year bull-market in bonds,” he said. “The biggest change however is that now institutional investors, gatekeepers and corporate CFOs now need to be able to point to the most fiduciary-responsible way to access Bitcoin.”

Kelso explained that Bitcoin’s decentralised structure makes it more readily accessible to investors without dependence on intermediary administrators and custodians.

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