Issue № 01

Cut the Pollution and the Excuses

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, just slashed its electricity use by 99.95%, proving that a code change is technically and politically possible. Ethereum's Merge leaves Bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency climate polluter. It doesn't have to be this way.

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01. Cut the Pollution and the Excuses

Sep 15, 2022

It can be done and has been done. Ethereum has changed its code–reducing its electricity use by 99.95%. On September 15, 2022, Ethereum moved from using the highly energy-intensive Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to Proof of Stake (PoS), a much more energy-efficient cryptocurrency validation protocol. This move leaves Bitcoin in the dust as one of the largest cryptocurrencies using an outdated protocol contrary to the growing clean energy economy.

With climate change-driven wildfires and floods raging worldwide and destroying lives and livelihoods, many countries and entire sectors of the economy are racing to decarbonize and minimize energy use. Ethereum has cut its energy use by 99%, joining other protocols that also use tiny amounts of energy. Then there’s Bitcoin, whose most prominent and loudest boosters proclaim that it will never change. Bitcoin mining wastes energy by design. It requires millions of specialized computers to perform trillions of computations to solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions. These computers use insatiable amounts of electricity resulting in excessive air and water pollution, electronic waste, noise pollution from the whirring computers working 24-7, and increased electricity rates for utility ratepayers.

Ethereum’s move to a dramatically more energy-efficient consensus mechanism shows that a code change is technically and politically feasible.

A little more than a decade ago, Bitcoin changed the global financial system. But without a serious strategy to address its egregious energy consumption in a rapidly warming world, Bitcoin risks getting left behind. We call on Fidelity, PayPal, Block, BlackRock, and other financial institutions and asset managers to support climate-friendly cryptocurrency protocols that are at least as efficient as Proof of Stake. Support the call for a code change for the people and the planet before it’s too late. It’s time for Bitcoin to cut the excuses and the pollution.

Join us. Tell Bitcoin to change the code, not the climate!