Greenpeace, Ripple co-founder campaigning to change Bitcoin code

cointelegraph.com:

Greenpeace, along with other climate groups, and co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, Chris Larsen, has launched a new campaign aimed at changing Bitcoin (BTC) to a more environmentally friendly consensus model.

The “Change the code, not the climate” campaign aims to pressure key industry leaders, Bitcoin miners, and influencers like Elon Musk, and Jack Dorsey, into moving over to a new consensus model saying:

Greenpeace cites concerns that the energy required to mine Bitcoin comes mostly from fossil fuels, and that miners are using coal waste and associated natural gas as ways to fuel their operations.

Greenpeace accepted Bitcoin donations for seven years between 2014 and May 2021 before announcing it was halting acceptance of Bitcoin donations, citing environmental concerns. Around the same time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stopped accepting Bitcoin payments for Tesla vehicles also.

Ethereum (ETH), which currently relies on the same proof-of-work mechanism as Bitcoin, is in the final stages of a lengthy and complicated process to a new proof-of-stake mechanism. Greenpeace says proof-of-stake is much less environmentally harmful due to its lower energy consumption.

“Now with Ethereum changing, Bitcoin really is the outlier,” Larsen said to Bloomberg in an interview published on March 29. “Some of the newer protocols, Solana and Cardano are built on low energy,” he added.

Larsen stated he owns Bitcoin and Ethereum and wanted to see both cryptocurrencies succeed, but that Bitcoin is heading down an unsustainable path. He added that if he had concerns about Bitcoin as competition for Ripple, he would let it continue.

Related: In defense of crypto: Why digital currencies deserve a better reputation

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