Ripple’s Larsen Teams Up With Greenpeace & Co to Spend USD 5M on Recycling Bitcoin Mining FUD
One ofRipple’s top executives has stoked the ire of the Bitcoin (BTC) community again, with a fresh assault on the way the network operates and its supposed environmental impact.
After last year launching what miners tagged “the stupidest idea” of 2021, suggesting that the Bitcoin protocol should abandon the “climate disaster” of proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanisms, Ripple Chairman and co-founder Chris Larsen is now back for more.
This time, he is stumping up a whopping USD 5m to co-fund a campaign – in conjunction with campaigners from Greenpeace and the Environmental Working Group to “buy ads in leading publications over the next month.” These ads, it appears, will repeat some of the hackneyed and debunked environmental claims made by opponents of BTC. They will appear in publications such as Politico and the Wall Street Journal.
Per Bloomberg, “some local activist groups battling bitcoin miners are also mobilizing their millions of members for grassroots efforts.”
It could be argued that Larsen – whose company Ripple is affiliated with XRP – would have plenty to gain from the demise or decline of BTC. But he refuted claims that this was in fact his chief motive.
Bloomberg quoted Larsen as stating:
“If I was concerned about bitcoin as a competitor, probably the best thing I could do is let it continue on this path. This is just an unsustainable path.”
On Twitter, he published a thread repeating his concerns, but noted that “these efforts are mine alone.” He added:
“While I’m still Chairman of Ripple, the company is not involved in this campaign. (On that note, apologies to the Ripple comms team!)”
And apologies may well be needed – as bitcoiners came out in their droves to denounce Larsen’s claims. Many pointed out that
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