Nice fundraiser for Change The Code, Not The Climate », a communication campaign organized by Greenpeace. The stated goal is to change the mining protocol from “ crypto gold “.
Ethereum’s The Merge update is catching on, and bitcoin could be next on the list. Greenpeace’s campaign wants the network to switch from Proof Of Work to Proof of Stake, highlighting the devastating impact of cryptocurrencies on certain communities.
Bitcoin energy expenditure, the big unknowns
Don’t count on Greenpeace and other NGOs to praise bitcoin. With this fundraiser intended for com’, we risk seeing online ads that tell us what we already know: bitcoin is an industry that requires a lot of energy, even if its impact on the planet is hardly quantifiable.
Greenpeace knows bitcoin isn’t going away anytime soon and points to how to produce it. The use of fossil fuels would have negative consequences on communities of fossil fuel miners in Kentucky. In Pennsylvania, bitcoin would be mined exclusively with the use of coal.
Moving from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake would change the protocol used to mine bitcoin, and drastically reduce its carbon footprint. If the process worked with the Ethereum network, which reduced its energy costs by 99.5%, it would make sense for bitcoin to do the same.
Changing the BTC protocol, “a misinterpretation”
The question divides the community but it is clear that bitcoin miners take a dim view of this idea. Pierre Noizat, founder of Paymium, explains that changing the bitcoin mining protocol would be a “misinterpretation”. He believes that the energies used to mine bitcoin – especially fossil fuels – would be wasted if not mined by bitcoin miners.
In the end, the smartest would be the one who has an overview of the energy expended by bitcoin, because studies on the subject depend entirely on those who produce them. In the camp of detractors, we are told that global bitcoin mining uses as much electricity as the whole of Sweden. The opposing party highlights the efforts of the miners to make it a “green” industry. It remains to be seen whether the idea of a change in protocol will gain ground in the coming months or years.
Sources: BFM TV, Greenpeace
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