Greenpeace USA, an environmental advocacy group, calls out Bitcoin for having what it calls an “outdated and efficient” code system.
In a tweet on Thursday, the organization played down claims that Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism is contributing to the climate crisis. Instead, he suggested that the code be exchanged for a less energy-intensive mechanism such as proof-of-stake.
Campaign against mining
The defense group statements they were in response to Ethereum’s successful Merge on Thursday, an event that transitioned the proof-of-work protocol to proof-of-stake.
“Ethereum just proved that cryptocurrency doesn’t have to come at the expense of a habitable planet,” the nonprofit said. Meanwhile, he criticized Bitcoin for continuing to consume more electricity than “entire countries.”
Bitcoin’s power consumption can fluctuate as market conditions change, but has generally increased over time as the Bitcoin mining industry expands. According to Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index, Its theoretical upper limit consumption is approximately 159.63 TW/h right now. In comparison, the entire country of Norway consumes about 124 TW/h, according to data from Forbes last year.
Its energy footprint is reduced to a proof of work – a mechanism for achieving consensus and blockchain security by consuming energy. Specifically, users (miners) consume energy in a race to build the next Bitcoin block, where winners are rewarded with BTC. Naturally, as the price of Bitcoin increases over time, they are incentivized to burn more energy for additional rewards.
As Greenpeace explained, this process is incentivizing miners to “bring back to life” old coal and gas plants, “thus fueling the climate crisis.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” the nonprofit argued. “Ethereum, one of Bitcoin’s main competitors, has just changed its code system to reduce its energy use by 99.95%.”
Greenpeace last took aim at Bitcoin in March, after Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen funded a $5 million campaign to see Bitcoin transition to proof-of-stake. Like last time, Greenpeace has also called on tech billionaires affiliated with Bitcoin – including Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk – to raise awareness of their energy footprint.
Arguments for the work test
However, bitcoiners are not budging. Dorsey, for example, made his distaste for proof-of-stake protocols clear afterward sharing a blog post extolling the superiority of the work test on Wednesday.
Dorsey also co-signed a proof-of-work letter to the Environmental Protection Agency in May, which criticized bet proof to be prone to centralization.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has also pulled no punches in his defense of Bitcoin mining.
“[Bitcoin’s carbon emissions] It would hardly be noticed if it weren’t for the competitive guerrilla marketing activities of other crypto promoters and lobbyists seeking to focus negative attention on Proof of Work mining,” he said in a letter Wednesday.
There is also the question of how much global emissions would fall if the transition were to actually occur. Bitcoin is estimated to be responsible for approximately 0.08% of global emissions at this time, which would presumably be the limit of its emissions reduction.
Also, Merge has proven that not all miners will go offline after this update. Rather, many seem to have it migrated to other proof-of-work chains, such as Ethereum Classic.
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