Greenpeace and Chris Larsen campaign for Bitcoin (BTC) to drop proof of work
With the support of several environmental groups, Greenpeace has just launched the “Change the code, not the climate” campaign. This initiative aims to put pressure on the mining community of Bitcoin (BTC) and influential industry players to abandon Proof-of-work (PoW).
“Bitcoin uses an outdated technology called proof of work to validate transactions. This validation method, at least as it currently works, uses massive amounts of energy and is therefore a huge source of climate pollution.”explains the campaign website.
The site recycles many hackneyed clichés about the impact of Bitcoin (BTC) mining on the environment. The campaign ensures that Bitcoin consumes more energy than a country like Sweden and that mining farms rely on fossil fuels.
Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple (XRP), is among the supporters of the campaign. The man has invested $5 million in the initiative. This is not the first time that the co-founder of XRP has taken on the creation of Satoshi Nakamoto. In the past, the billionaire has assured that Bitcoin is a digital currency that risks falling under the control of China.
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No Chance of Bitcoin Dropping Proof-of-Work (PoW)
Based on the observation that Bitcoin risks “produce enough carbon dioxide emissions to warm the planet”Greenpeace and its partners recommend the immediate abandonment of Proof-of-Work (PoW). They estimate that a drastic change in operation will reduce “Bitcoin’s energy consumption of 99.9%”.
“If I considered Bitcoin as a competitor, the best thing I could do is let it continue down that path. It is a path that is not sustainable”says Chris Larsen, who says he is in favor of a new Bitcoin fork.
As a reminder, Greenpeace accepted Bitcoin donations for several years. In May 2021, the NGO announced the abandonment of cryptocurrency donations, assuring that mining represents a serious danger for the environment.
In its manifesto, Greenpeace encourages influential individuals in the sector, such as “Tesla’s Elon Musk, Block’s Jack Dorsey and Fidelity’s Abby Johnson”, to act to convince Bitcoin miners to do without proof of work. According to the NGO, all you need to do is convince 50 firms specializing in mining, cryptocurrency exchange or development to change the digital currency code.
Contacted by Bloomberg, Chris Bendiksena CoinShares researcher and mining expert, believes that this campaign has, unsurprisingly, no chance of succeeding:
“I would rate the chance of Bitcoin ever switching to PoS at exactly 0%. There is no desire among Bitcoiners to destroy the security of the protocol with such an action.”
Despite accusations recycled by Greenpeace, Bitcoin mining represents only a tiny fraction of the planet’s energy consumption. According to a study by CoinSharesthe energy consumption of mining farms did not exceed 82 TWh in 2021.
This is only 0.051% of the total of the world’s energy consumption. A study commissioned by Greenpeace and the WWF also shows that the 60 largest banks in the world pollute more than the mother of cryptocurrencies.
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Sources: Clean Up Bitcoin, Bloomberg, CoinShares
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