Larsen referred to Bitcoin as the “outlier” in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
Many climate activist groups, including independent global campaigning network Greenpeace and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, have expressed concerning the environmental impact caused by Bitcoin. With support from Greenpeace and Larsen, the activists have launched a campaign to make Bitcoin a more environmentally friendly consensus model. Tagged the “Change the Code, Not the Climate” campaign, the purpose of the move is to compel the BTC community to change its method of conducting transactions.
Earlier reports revealed that Bitcoin transactions currently consume as much power as a whole country like Sweden. According to Larsen, the next five years may see BTC consuming as much power as Japan if there is no change. The University of Cambridge also revealed that Bitcoin power consumption is gradually surpassing that of more countries. If this persists, the cryptocurrency will eventually drive devastating climate impacts. The campaign website notes facts about Bitcoin power usage, stating that the crypto-asset could single-handedly warm earth over 2 degrees.
Another fact states that Bitcoin miners have started purchasing US coal plants because the crypto requires a lot of power. Besides, miners utilize fracked gas and enter into agreements with the Texas oil industry to use flare gas. As a result, Larsen, Greenpeace, and other activists are calling for a Bitcoin software change. According to the campaign website, a change in the software code will reduce Bitcoin energy usage by 99.9%.
“Switching to a low-energy protocol has proven effective and uses a fraction of the energy. Ethereum is changing its code. Many others use less energy. Why isn’t Bitcoin?
Larsen Calls Bitcoin the “Outlier “
Similarly, Larsen referred to Bitcoin as the “outlier” in a recent interview with Bloomberg. The Ripple executive reiterated that Ethereum is changing, and Bitcoin needs some changes as well. Speaking, he added that even Solana and Cardano run on low energy. Larsen revealed that he holds both Bitcoin and Ethereum, and he wishes to see booth cryptos succeed. In his opinion, Bitcoin is, however, moving toward an unsustainable path.
Also, the campaign seeks to influence BTC miners and influencers such as Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. These influencers will be convinced to migrate onto a new consensus model.
Greenpeace stated in its manifesto that a change would make expensive equipment belonging to Bitcoin stakeholders less valuable. In the report, a CoinShares Bitcoin researcher wrote:
“I’d put the chance of Bitcoin ever moving to PoS at exactly 0%. There is no appetite among Bitcoiners to destroy the security of the protocol by making such a move.”
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