Crypto mining is an environmentally costly process with Bitcoin mining alone using more power than the entire country of Argentina. Using blockchain technology may be revolutionary, but at what cost?
Ethereum moved from mining to staking and it’s 99% greener!
Ethereum moves from PoW to PoS
PoS (Proof-of-Stake) was developed as an energy-saving alternative to PoW (Proof-of-Work). PoS using electricity to process blockchain transactions whereas PoW uses staking of ETH instead with minimal electricity required.
Ethereum moved to PoS at the end of 2020 as part of its Eth 2.0 Ecosystem update. And according to some Ethereum proponents this change could make mining of Ethereum significantly more sustainable, some even argue 99% more sustainable.
Ethereum’s eth2 upgrade – an overhaul of Ethereum’s core consensus to provide a more sustainable, secure, and scalable home for Ethereum and its community. […] to move from the energy-hungry, inefficient proof-of-work to a more sustainable, scalable proof-of-stake.
As it stands, there are currently approximately 414 PoW cryptocurrencies and 324 PoS cryptocurrencies in existence. Could we see more make the switch?
Bitcoin’s Proof of Work Is Bad For the Environment
The main issue with PoW is that it is extremely resource-intensive, and lots of energy is required to run the protocol. In addition, as many more people are joining the mining process, the difficulty increases in order to keep the mining time the same.
The mining done for Bitcoin has risen its annual carbon footprint equalling that of Argentina. Issues like these raise an environmental concern to such a magnitude that a major Bitcoin mining hub in Mongolia has been shut down recently due to massive power consumption.
The environmental impact of miners might make Bitcoin and other PoW protocols unattractive to environmentally conscious investors. Since the world is slowly on its way to going green, blockchain companies should consider the impact that they have on the environment.
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