You've heard Bitcoin fuels the climate crisis, but did you know a software code change could clean it up? Sign the petition to tell big tech and finance corporations
to stop Bitcoin from polluting the planet.

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01. Cut the Pollution and the Excuses

And it’s quickly surpassing more countries, according to the University of Cambridge. Unless its price is decoupled from its energy use, Bitcoin will drive devastating climate impacts.

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A report in the journal Nature Climate Change found that if Bitcoin becomes widely adopted, it could produce enough carbon dioxide emissions to warm the planet above 2 degrees Celsius.

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Bitcoin requires so much power that its “miners” have started buying US coal plants. They’re using fracked gas and are striking deals with the oil industry in Texas to use flare gas to fuel their operations.

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Switching to a low-energy protocol has proven effective and uses a fraction of the energy. Ethereum has changed its code. Many others use less energy. Why isn’t Bitcoin?

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We know enough.
It’s time to act.

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We know the problem. Bitcoin uses an outdated technology called proof-of-work to validate transactions. This proof-of-work method, at least as it currently operates, uses massive amounts of energy, and thus is a huge source of climate pollution. As Bitcoin's price surges, so, too does its energy use.

We know Bitcoin stakeholders are incentivized not to change. Changing Bitcoin would render a whole lot of expensive infrastructure worthless, meaning Bitcoin stakeholders will need to walk away from sunk costs — or find other creative solutions.

We know the crypto community is overwhelmingly motivated by a sense of progress, fairness, and good intentions. Many advocates are vocal about addressing climate change. The dream of so many early crypto innovators is within reach — but only if the industry gets serious about crypto that runs on low energy.

We know crypto doesn’t need much energy to work. Many newer cryptocurrencies are low consumers of energy or carbon-neutral because they use a better model: proof-of-stake.

We know a basic software code change would reduce Bitcoin’s energy use by 99.9%. If only 30 people — the key miners, exchanges, and core developers who build and contribute to Bitcoin’s code — agreed to reinvent proof-of-work mining or move to a low-energy protocol, Bitcoin would stop polluting the planet. So why isn’t Bitcoin changing its code?

We know who wields influence over the crypto community, from big tech to big banks. Leaders like Elon Musk of Tesla, Jack Dorsey of Block, and Abby Johnson of Fidelity have vested interests in Bitcoin — and the power to affect change. BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, PayPal and many others have a responsibility to help Clean Up Bitcoin.