The Environmental Impact of Digital Currency, a Problematic Spotify Patent, & more on DevNews
Tags: news, podcast
Published: 2021-04-22 18:44:00

---
title: The Environmental Impact of Digital Currency, a Problematic Spotify Patent, & more on DevNews
published: true
description: Listen to S4E2 of the DevNews pod!
tags: news, podcast
series: DevNews Season 4
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/zoxvbu0494gq3sxtjp4v.png
---

Happy [Earth Day](https://dev.to/devteam/building-a-healthier-planet-with-open-source-software-25jn) from all of us at DEV! In this week's episode of the DevNews podcast, @saronyitbarek and I covered a story that is particularly relevant today...

{% podcast https://dev.to/devnews/s4-e2-u-k-central-bank-digital-currency-the-environmental-impact-of-digital-currency-a-problematic-spotify-patent-and-wordpress-google-floc-block %}

... **The environmental impact of digital currency.** For this story, we spoke with [Tim Swanson](twitter.com/ofnumbers) (Founder and Director of Research at Post Oak Labs, Head of Market Intelligence at ClearMatics, and the author of the research paper, “Bitcoin & Other PoW* Coins Are An ESG** Nightmare”).

### **Saron and I also chatted about the following things...**
- WordPress blocking Google’s Federated Learning of Cohorts tracking technology
- The Bank of England and HM Treasury creating a joint task force to explore the possibility of creating a central bank digital currency in the U.K
- [Isedua Oribhabor’s](http://twitter.com/@Isedua) letter to Spotify on why the company should abandon their recent speech-recognition patent of a technology to detect emotion, gender, and age. Oribhador is a U.S. Policy Analyst at Access Now — and they joined us for this episode, too! 


> _*POW = proof of work_
> _**ESG = environmental, social, and governance_

I hope you enjoy this episode! You should feel good about the fact that you saved some trees by listening to DevNews instead of buying the paper 😉 Enjoy the rest of your Earth Day!


_You can [follow DevNews](dev.to/devnews) to get episode notifications and listen right in your feed_ — or subscribe on your platform of choice! Plus, if you leave us a review, we'll send you a free pack of thank-you stickers. Details [here](https://airtable.com/shr8oKAIMZgdYnBxx). 

## **Quick Listening Links**
- [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s4-e2-u-k-central-bank-digital-currency-environmental/id1525581923?i=1000518214472)
- [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/39enVKOeI7jEfXJR1Yf8xW)
- [Google](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmNvZGVuZXdiaWUub3JnL2Rldm5ld3NfcG9kY2FzdC54bWw/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly9kZXZwb2RzLmRldi9wb2RjYXN0cy9kZXZuZXdzLzI2?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwiZidmLwJLwAhXL3J4KHf9XCJkQjrkEegQIBBAI&ep=6)
- [Stitcher](https://www.stitcher.com/show/devnews/episode/s4-e2-u-k-central-bank-digital-currency-the-environmental-impact-of-digital-currency-a-problematic-spotify-patent-and-wordpress-google-floc-block-83380738)
- [Listen Notes](hhttps://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/devnews/s4e2-uk-central-bank-digital-wJX8Q5VkYR7/)
- [TuneIn](https://tunein.com/podcasts/Technology-Podcasts/DevNews-p1352512/?topicId=162514769)
- [RSS Feed](http://feeds.codenewbie.org/devnews_podcast.xml)
- [Transcript](https://devpods.dev/podcasts/devnews/episodes/158)

_Acknowledgements_ 
- _@levisharpe for producing & mixing the show_
- Our season four sponsors, [Scout APM](https://scoutapm.com/devnews) and [Rudderstack](https://rudderstack.com/) ❤️ 

![Happy Earth Day](https://media.giphy.com/media/sA1r7HKuUX20g/giphy.gif)