The environmental impact of blockchains and cryptocurrencies cannot be overlooked. In particular Proof-of-Work systems such as Bitcoin have a huge (understated) energy footprint. In conventional cryptocurrency systems, tokens are awarded to “miners” for successfully mining blocks on the blockchain. The core problem is that mining consumes incomprehensible amounts of electrical energy.
How bad is it?
According to several studies (link), a single Bitcoin transaction requires 2,180kWh, with this amount of energy you can execute over 1.4 million Visa transactions, or fully charge 29 Tesla cars (Model 3, 75kWh). Another research reveals Bitcoin system alone consumes half of the energy of the banking industry (source). Pretty bad is an understatement...
If you ask any expert, Bitcoins are a dramatic waste of natural resources. Even if Bitcoin is fully run on renewable energy, its benefits will never outweigh the energy consumption (mind the natural resources, maintenance & production, material waste from solar panels, wind turbines, etc). You may also have seen articles trying to debunk Bitcoin fuds, but if you conduct some research, many of those authors are merely crypto influencers, acting as Hollywood scientists (examples).
How can we solve this?
I’m building the Carbon3 cryptocurrency that does not use a blockchain (requires no mining). It has better security and privacy wallet aspects than existing cryptocurrencies, stimulates good capitalistic behavior and enforces eco-friendly consumerism.
About me
I work in the web3.0 industry with a particular stake in the decentralized-identity space. Whether we like it or not, blockchain technologies (in particular PoW ~ Bitcoin) are wasting precious energy resources from our planet 🌎, but fail to universally solve the centralized monetary issues 💰. The big institutions still dominate the financial sector, and are dominating the crypto industry as well. And with enforced Travel Rule worldwide, crypto loses its face as an anonymous system.
Get in touch to learn more https://www.linkedin.com/in/iljanevolin/
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