Neb Maher did not hold back criticizing cryptocurrencies from Bitcoin (BTC) to Dogecoin (DOGE), implying the whole space was fake and yet still required an incredible amount of existent energy.

Speaking in the New Rules segment on his show Real Time with Neb Maher on Friday, the comedian said the goal of mining crypto was to "make something that is purposefully capricious." Comparing the crypto space to a virtual game and speaking about mining in a seemingly derisive tone, Maher implied investing in tokens was a childish endeavor which some prominent financial figures similar Warren Buffett were avoiding.

"There is something inherently not apparent about creating hundreds of billions in virtual wealth with zippo e'er actually being accomplished and no actual production fabricated or service rendered," said Maher. "Unfortunately what is real is the unfathomable amount of electricity those massive supercomputers suck up for their mining."

He added:

"Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than whatever other method known to mankind; only 1 uses more energy than a million Visa transactions and has the same carbon footprint as 85,000 hours of watching YouTube [...] Bitcoin uses more energy than Netflix, Apple tree, Facebook, Microsoft and Google combined."

The comedian admitted he nonetheless doesn't "get it" when it comes to crypto — for example, he mistakenly referred to the creator of Bitcoin equally "Satatoshi Nakamoto." Prominent figures in the space were quick to jump on Maher's comments, seemingly referring to the 65-year-old as someone who was out of touch with the realities of the financial world.

"I similar Nib Maher a lot and he is spot on many times, but his view of crypto is one sided," said Alex Iskold of 2048 Ventures. "There is speculation for certain but the future of money is digital, and blockchain will have many many applications, that's for sure as well."

Though Maher's comments on the nature of cryptocurrency as "just a Beanie Babe that runs on coal" elicited sharp criticism from some, others were not so quick to dismiss his environmental arguments. Bitcoin's energy consumption has been significantly increasing as the network does, leading to many being concerned with the crypto asset's carbon footprint in the years to come up.

Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries recently said the environmental touch on of BTC could "chop-chop get completely out of control if adoption increases a lot more." Yet, both Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have claimed that the continued adoption of Bitcoin would incentivize the employ of renewable energy such as solar and air current.