Too polluting, Proof of Work? Greenpeace calls for changing Bitcoin protocol


Vincent Touveau

Cryptocurrencies

April 02, 2022 at 3:45 p.m.

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bitcoin mining

A campaign led by Greenpeace hits again and again on the energy resources required by the mining of bitcoin. Instead of advocating its ban, the NGO calls on the major players in the crypto to change the Proof of work to make bitcoin cleaner.

By questioning the most famous business leaders (among whom we find Elon Musk), Greenpeace warns of intensive mining in a manifesto entitled ” Change the code not the climate “. According to the organization, bitcoin would have the ability to increase the global temperature of the planet by 2 degrees Celsius if adopted globally.

Proof of work in the dock

We know bitcoin holders have no interest in changing “, accuses Greenpeace on a site whose evocative name, Cleanupbitcoin.com, details the problem of energy expenditure related to mining and verification of transactions. We learn that bitcoin consumes as much energy as Sweden over a year and that the main culprit is Proof of work, the block validation method used to give bitcoin and the blockchain its value.

According to the NGO, it would be enough to change the code to reduce energy expenditure by 99.99% and make bitcoin a carbon-neutral currency. The future of bitcoin would be the Proof of stake, a validation process adopted by other major crypto-currencies such as Ethereum or Ripple. Proof of stake is considered to be much less energy intensive but Greenpeace knows that the big players in the field are not ready for change. They have giant infrastructures and expensive equipment that they are not going to abandon overnight.

Appeal to celebrities to change the code

Greenpeace is used to ringing the alarm bells, at a time when regions like Texas have revived old coal factories and where mining hardware (ASIC graphics cards) is ever more efficient and expensive. in electricity. The NGO also appeals to three great CEOs, Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Abby Johnson, to encourage them to use their influence to achieve immediate change.

Big financial companies like PayPal, Blackrock and Goldman Sachs can also be agents of change. Greenpeace believes that all it would take is a collaboration between 30 players in global finance to change the situation and prevent bitcoin from becoming a major cause of future ecological disasters.

Source: cleanupbitcoin.com



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