Counterintuitive effect – A year ago, the international non-governmental organization Greenpeace attacked the network Bitcoin with this same slogan: “Change the code, not the climate”. This month, the NGO is relaunching its campaign, always with the same idea of asking for the abandonment of proof of work to prefer him proof of stake. So it’s sort of asking Bitcoin to become a new form of Ethereum. Beyond the feasibility of the claim or even its relevance, it is the mode of action that interests us today. And in particular this sculpture by the artist Benjamin Von Wong which sparked an outpouring of sympathy from the crypto community. And that was not planned. Throwback to a somewhat failed media campaign.
Greenpeace relaunches its anti-Bitcoin campaign with the “Skull of Satoshi”
A few months ago, the teams of Greenpeace therefore asked Benjamin Von Wong to create an artistic work that would show the environmental havoc created by the mining of Bitcoin. The Canadian artist and photographer is known to be an activist committed to the climate cause. Moreover, his works have participated in numerous successful media campaigns. He finally made this huge skull more than 3 meters high with waste recycled electronics to denounce the environmental impact of the network Bitcoin.
So far, so good. THE “Skull of Satoshi” – Satoshi’s skull – spreads on social networks from the March 23 and serves as a visual for the new campaign of Greenpeace in the USA. The NGO camps on its historical positions and seeks to reach public opinion as well as economic decision-makers who would like to invest in Bitcoin:
” Satoshi’s skull symbolizes the enormous climate impact of bitcoin mining and serves as an avatar to encourage financial institutions to take responsibility for the climate impact of the investments Bitcoin products and services they offer. »
Greenpeace website
On the organization’s website, we find a whole host of more or less scientific and verifiable arguments which contribute to drawing up a picture apocalyptic bitcoin mining. But after all, the NGO is in its role, although a bit caricatural and obviously ill-informed.
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The reactions are at odds with the expectations of the NGO and the artist
But it is the sequence of events that is particularly funny. Because in a few hours, this artistic work will trigger a movement of sympathy worldwide. But from the wrong community! THE bitcoin of all hairs share and comment on the post, but above all they love this very cultured skull pop bitcoin. With his laser eyes and his cyberpunk side, he corresponds perfectly to a certain very fashionable imagination around Bitcoin.
But the most incredible thing about this story is the awareness of the artist himself. On social networks, he will admit being wrong on Bitcoin and its environmental issues. He even declares that his skull could become a symbol of energetic transition from the Bitcoin network to 100% renewable. In a long message broadcast on Twitter, he explains in detail how some Internet users managed to convince him that Greenpeace was somehow on the wrong track. Now, he is rather happy that his work takes care of itself. And he even hopes that he will have participated in his own way in bringing people back to the table who no longer spoke to each other.
It is not a question here of taking up all the arguments of the NGO one by one, because on certain points, it is obviously right. Yes, we would all like to live in a world without fossil energy and if we could have a network Bitcoin secured by 100% energy renewable or by excess wasted energy we would all be delighted. But in the meantime, the share of green energy in mining is progressing day by day with positive examples like Iceland leading the way.
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