The final clock, an iconic gauge maintained by atomic scientists’ bulletins since 1947, is currently in the middle of the night from 89 seconds.
This shows its closest position, reflecting an era shaped by multiple existential threats, including nuclear tensions, climate volatility, and destructive technologies.
The latest release brings the clock closer to midnight than during the Cuban missile crisis or the Cold War.
“We’re now moving the end clock from 90 to 89 seconds into the middle of the night.
Our passionate hope is for leaders to recognize the existential predicaments of the world and take bold action to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, and the potential misuse of biological sciences and a variety of emerging technologies. ”
Nuclear winter fears decrease, but other artificial developments advance the watch
A panel of experts at Bulletin recently cited the growing geopolitical conflict, the deterioration of the arm control framework, and accelerating climate destabilization as a driver of this tough calculation.
In particular, nuclear weapons have been declining since the height of the Cold War. At the peak of the Cuban missile crisis, the clock stood from midnight until midnight until seven minutes.
Today, the risk of superpower nuclear exchange may be relatively low, but complex global risks are strengthened.
Climate destabilization, biosecurity vulnerabilities, AI-enhanced cyberthreats, and geopolitical flashpoints have converged and affect clock advancements. According to a 2025 statement from Bulletin, total risk overtook singular nuclear concerns as a major determinant.
Can Bitcoin regain time?
Traditionally excluded from such existential calculus, Bitcoin is increasingly emerging as a potential influence factor across climate, infrastructure resilience and geopolitical stability. Integration into the energy market provides new dynamics.
Bitcoin protects the energy grid
Unlike traditional data centers, Bitcoin mining rigs can be rapidly reduced. This flexibility allows miners, particularly on grids such as Elcott, Texas, to participate in demand response programs and reduce consumption during peak stress periods.
As reported by the ERCOT submission, miners provided hundreds of megawatts of load reductions and directly supported the reliability of the grid.
Mining’s ability to act as a disruptive load is consistent with the grid decarburization target, particularly as renewable energy increases volatility.
Bitcoin saves upset energy
Beyond participation in the grid, Bitcoin intersects with reduced emissions. The mobile mining unit has made it possible to perform a cohesive energy solution and flare gas capture.
Companies such as Crusoe and upstream data have reported huge success in mitigating methane emissions by redirecting otherwise fiery gases. Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is a major contributor to short-term global warming.
A study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production shows that landfill-based mining, combined with methane capture, can prevent warming up to 0.15°C when deployed globally. These integrations provide pathways where bitcoin mining could positively contribute to climate objectives, subject to continued scaling and reductions in fossil-rich operations.
Financial stability through Bitcoin
Fixed supply of digital assets also brings consideration from a financial stability lens. Although prices have historically been unstable, Bitcoin’s non-expandable structure is in contrast to the Fiat system, which is increasingly dependent on debt issuance and monetary expansion.
The sovereign BTC reserves already accumulate in several jurisdictions, and can serve as a collateral base and reduce future reliance on unsustainable debt.
However, sudden transitions are risky. Financial instability caused by the sudden rejection of Fiat instruments can create equal social shocks. According to the Breaking News Framework, financial obstacles remain a risk factor that allows the clock to move forward.
Bitcoin’s decentralized global computing will increase transparency
Bitcoin’s immutable ledgers and decentralized time stamps provide additional tools to strengthen institutional trust. Use cases have appeared that include the trajectory of election audits. Guatemala’s 2023 election used OPENTIMESTAMP to record voting data, increasing the verifiability amongst the contested results.
Similarly, time stamp public documents and cybersecurity events create immutable records, enhance attribution, and reduce the chances of disinformation.
In an environment where cyber-enabled misinformation is cited by breaking news as accelerating competition, distributed time stamps can increase global resilience to escalations caused by ambiguous digital events.
Bitcoin could end the movement war
Incorporating Jason Lowry’s “Soft Whirl” paper into the discussion introduces a paradigm where the Bitcoin work proof mechanism serves as a projection of non-lethal force and may reduce reliance on athletic warfare.
Laurie assumes that Pow imposes tangible costs on actions within cyberspace, creating deterrents similar to physical military forces.
This framework suggests that conflicts traditionally resolved through physical conflicts can move to digital arenas where energy consumption and calculation efforts are replaced by weapons.
By moving the battlefield into cyberspace, nations could engage in strategic competition without escalating to nuclear threats, thereby contributing to global stability.
Bitcoin can slow down the end clock
Bitcoin introduces complexity and potential debt by illegally using mixers and historic market volatility, but evolving integration into energy, governance and financial frameworks introduces offsetting power.
As a geopolitical instability and climate disruption compound, Bitcoin’s role as a flexible load balancer, methane mitigator, fixed supply assets, exchanging movement wars, and decentralized event sequencer reflects a new dimension beyond traditional narratives.
The end clock remains a specific phor rather than an accurate prediction. However, its current setting reflects the integration of risks that could lead to civilizational disruption.
Whether Bitcoin will be the power to turn back time in this context will depend on how quickly and responsibly these new utilities expand across sectors that are critical to global stability.
The Science and Security Committee explains the origins of the Apocalyptic Clock below:
(Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein.J. Robert Oppenheimer, And scientists at the University of Chicago, who helped develop the first atomic weapons on the Manhattan project, created the Apocalypse image (midnight) and a modern idiom of nuclear explosions (countdown to zero) two years later, to convey the threat to humans and planets.
