The Campaign entitled “Change the Code Not the Climate”, backed by the Environmental Working Group, Greenpeace USA, and several groups with the CEO and co-founder of Ripple, is requesting to change the Bitcoin code to reduce energy usage for Bitcoin mining.
According to the University of Cambridge, currently, Bitcoin mining is using more energy than Sweden and in the upcoming time, this amount will surpass many countries. This will create “devastating climate impacts”.
Currently, Bitcoin mining follows “proof-of-work” that requires massive computing power to solve complex equations, which helps to validate and secure transactions by miners.
The campaign will buy ads in leading publications over the next month. With the hike in the cryptocurrencies’ usage, the campaign organizers are requesting that Bitcoin should be found as alternate energy-efficient options to run blockchain with.
Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, said he’s put in $5 million to fund the campaign, partly because he feels that Bitcoin won’t continue to enjoy investors’ support unless it changes.
“If I was concerned about Bitcoin as a competitor, probably the best thing I could do is let it continue on this path” Larsen said. “This is just an unsustainable path.”
“This is a big problem. In part because of where the industry stands now but also because of our concerns about its growth,” said Michael Brune, campaign director and former executive director of Sierra Club.
He stated that the coal plants which were slated to be closed are once again rolling their full scale operation to complete the energy requirement for Bitcoin mining.
The website tells the shocking fact that widespread adoption of Bitcoin could boost carbon dioxide emission that can make earth 2 degrees warmer. It suggests switching to a low energy mechanism “proof-of-stake”, which would reduce Bitcoin’s energy use by 99.9 percent.
Currently, many blockchains are integrating and developing more energy efficient options while taking care of climate issues. The Ethereum blockchain is already working on its three steps to switch over Ethereum 2.0, which will run on a proof-of-stake mechanism.
