The claim that Bitcoin (BTC) is bad for the environment seems to be becoming a populist truism. With the use of proof-of-work (PoW) as a consensus mechanism, its entire network would require a prodigious amount of energy, which would currently exceed the annual energy consumption of some countries.
The co-founder of Ripple, Chris Larsen, recently mounted a campaign to exploit these unflattering comparisons. baptized Change the Code Not the Climatethis campaign aims to pressure the Bitcoin community to consider switching from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake (PoS), a less energy-intensive consensus mechanism.
However, most commentators inside and outside the Bitcoin community believe that Larsen’s new campaign has no chance of rushing the abandonment of PoW. Instead, they claim it is akin to a smear campaign aimed at tarnishing Bitcoin’s reputation for the benefit of its rivals (Ripple-affiliated XRP is also trying to gain a foothold in the payments industry) and will go away. fast enough.
No PoW, no Bitcoin
As part of the Change the Code campaign (confirmed by a tweet from Chris Larsen on March 29), Ripple’s executive chairman has partnered with Greenpeace et al’Environmental Campaign Group to run a series of ads in major publications and outlets.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Larsen pointed out that Bitcoin is the only crypto-asset still using PoW (or not planning to move away from it).
“With the evolution of Ethereum, Bitcoin is really an aberration,” he said. “Some of the newer protocols — Solana, Cardano — are built on low energy.”
However, while Change the Code has set aside some $5 million to fund its campaign, many commentators — even well-known Bitcoin critics, such asAlex de Vries — are skeptical about achieving their goals.
“I don’t think this campaign will help with the transition from Bitcoin to PoS. There was already no movement in this direction and this campaign only unites the community against such a change,” Mr. de Vries said. , former blockchain specialist at PwC and now a doctoral student at Vrije University Amsterdam.
Other more Bitcoin-friendly commentators share his view.
“No chance. Zero to 100%,” said Zach Bradford, Bitcoin mining company CEO CleanSpark. “Proof of work is what makes the value of Bitcoin durable. Without proof of work, you change what Bitcoin is.”
Those who believe in Bitcoin as a secure and decentralized form of electronic money/value also agree. “I don’t think Bitcoin will ever move to proof-of-stake,” said Mark Jeffreygeneral partner of the Boolean Fund.
Jeffrey notes that proof of work remains the most proven mechanism for securing a decentralized store of value network. “To change anything, you have to amass more than 51% of the hash power on Earth, which is extremely difficult to do,” he told Cryptonews.com.
On his side, Josef Tetekambassador of Satoshi Labs and brand Trezoralso makes the argument that bitcoin’s energy needs have encouraged investment in renewable energy sources.
“The campaign is built on misinformation and misunderstanding. Bitcoin mining incentivizes more efficient use of resources and will likely improve the environmental footprint of power generation,” he said.
It should be noted that the use of renewable energies by miners has increased in recent years. According to Bitcoin Mining Council58.5% of the industry used at least some sustainable energy in Q4 2021, up from 36.8% in Q1 2021. Additionally, according to data from CoinSharesthe Bitcoin network contributed less than 0.08% of total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions worldwide.
ulterior motives
Given that the vast majority of the Bitcoin community is happy to rely on the seemingly increasing use of renewable energy, the Change the Code campaign is highly unlikely to succeed in moving it to PoS anytime soon. Chances are, Chris Larsen is already well aware of this.
So what does he really want? Well, given that he’s a co-founder of Ripple, chances are he’s looking to damage Bitcoin’s reputation in the public eye, while promoting alternatives, like XRP, by extension.
“Yes, I believe the goal is to tarnish public perception of bitcoin and promote altcoins based on false claims […] Organizations like Greenpeace should do better due diligence,” said Josef Tetek.
Similarly, Zach Bradford of CleanSpark says the campaign is essentially the equivalent of a disinformation and smear campaign.
“Who benefits? It cannot be ignored that one of the major donors has a financial interest in an alternative currency,” he said.
“We are seeing a PR campaign by the incumbent financial powers to get rid of Bitcoin before it gets rid of them. Calling it ‘ungreen’ is an attack vector,” Mark said. Jeffrey.
Anyway, the question that now arises is how long this campaign will last.
Speaking to Bloomberg at the time of its launch, the campaign manager – the former executive director of Sierra Club, Michael Brown – said his team were “in this campaign for the long haul”.
That said, most outside observers highly doubt the campaign will last much longer than its first round of announcements.
“I think it’s going to go away quickly. Five million dollars doesn’t go very far,” said Zach Bradford, adding that this in no way means the Bitcoin community should rest on its laurels.
On the other hand, some commentators expect other similar campaigns to be launched in the months and years to come, even if Change the Code itself fails.
“I think these attacks will be repeated as Bitcoin grows to take on a geopolitical role. Bitcoin has many enemies and they will use any tactic to tarnish it and slow its global adoption,” said Josef Tetek. .
For those who are not employees or paid contractors within the crypto industry, it is still expected that the eventual move from Ethereum to PoS will put real pressure on Bitcoin.
“It would just make more sense to add this pressure to Ethereum instead – since the community has been promising to switch to PoS for years (but still hasn’t succeeded). A successful Ethereum switch would likely add more pressure on the Bitcoin community than this campaign does,” said Alex de Vries.
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