Although Ford was never able to advance his vision of a fully-backed currency, Bitcoin has seemingly vindicated the idea a century later. Since 2009, more than 18.8 million BTC have been created through an energy-intensive mining process that requires computers to solve increasingly complex math problems. This proof-of-work mining has drawn heavy criticism over its alleged environmental impact — a short-sighted claim that ignores Bitcoin’s ability to accelerate the shift to renewable energy.