Hash Cash (2019) visualizes Bitcoin exchange data. The completely anonymous Bitcoin ledger makes it impossible to determine who is exchanging funds, but openly reveals how much money is exchanged. Hash Cash is an ambient display of Bitcoin transfers as they occur in each Bitcoin blockchain block. Coins populate the space and are proportionally scaled based on transaction amount.
A frequently unmentioned aspect of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, is the cost of mining subsequent blocks on the blockchain. As each block on the blockchain becomes more difficult to compute, the environmental cost (electricity, equipment, CO2 emission) continues to rise – seen as the rising smog in Hash Cash. This poses the question, are cryptocurrencies accelerating the Anthropocene?”