The Merge is a success! Ethereum is now less energy consuming thanks to its transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake. But then, if ETH has done it, why is BTC still destroying our beautiful blue planet? Greenpeace demands it, Bitcoin must also switch to Proof of Stake!
The Merge, a success that makes the market dumper with joy
Thursday 15 september 2022 was a big day for the Ethereum and crypto ecosystem: The Merge. After a running gag of more than 6 years wondering if this one would see the light of day, here it is!
Ethereum is now a Proof of Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency, a change in consensus that should be accompanied by a reduction of almost 99% in the Blockchain’s energy consumption. While the market is dumping with joy, the crypto ecosystem is congratulating itself on this success. A success that Greenpeace is also celebrating in its own way: by attacking Bitcoin.
Greenpeace wants Bitcoin to use Proof of Stake and stop destroying the planet!
Do I really have to introduce Greenpeace, the “environmentalist” group founded in 1971 in Canada? No ? Great!
As I said, the group, famous for its positions, has decided to attack Bitcoin in a statement entitled “Cut the Pollution and the Bullshit”. In this statement, Greenpeace explains that BTC should also go Proof of Stake.
As fires rage around the world and historic floods destroy lives and livelihoods, state and federal leaders and corporate executives are racing to decarbonize as quickly as possible. Ethereum has shown that it is possible to move to an energy-efficient protocol with far less climate, air and water pollution. Other cryptocurrency protocols have been operating for years with efficient consensus mechanisms. Bitcoin has become an aberration, defiantly refusing to accept its climate responsibility.
Michael Brune, Sierra Club Director
It’s no longer a matter of choice, but of survival of our species! That’s why the organization has declared that “Change the Code, Not the Climate”, its anti-Bitcoin lobbying program, will be allocated an additional $1 million. We’re going to take down that evil BTC!
Change the Code, Not the Climate
Launched in March 2022 by Greenpeace and Chris Larsen, a billionaire known for co-founding Ripple, “Change the Code, Not the Climate” is a lobbying program to migrate Bitcoin from the Proof of Work (PoW) to the Proof of Stake (PoS).
Among this Lobbying is a site called cleanupbitcoin, which not only shows us the excessive consumption of Bitcoin, but also tells us that the temperature of the planet would increase by 2°C if BTC were to be adopted worldwide. I’ll let you read the other facts for yourself.
If the initiatives have since multiplied with numerous press releases and anti-PoW pamphlets, it seems that Greenpeace wants to move up a gear, as evidenced by the addition of $1 million to the initiative.
The “Change the Code, Not the Climate” campaign will now ramp up its efforts with $1 million in new online ads, and we’ve just launched a petition calling on Fidelity Investments to push bitcoin to follow ethereum’s lead by adopting the PoS protocol, which significantly reduces the cryptocurrency’s contribution to the climate crisis.
Greenpeace press release
When Bitcoin’s Proof of Work could save Greenpeace, oh sweet irony
While we can argue about the energy consumption of PoW, it is worth remembering one essential thing that Greenpeace does not mention: the decentralization and security it allows. Indeed, PoS on a large scale is just starting and migrating the most resistant protocol in our history on it would be suicide. Unless you want to take the risk of losing a useful tool to regain your monetary power (editor’s note: I pass).
We would indeed take the risk of losing this decentralization, so dear to our ecosystem. A decentralization that Greenpeace would have needed in 2015 when their bank accounts were frozen by the Indian government.
Something impossible on Bitcoin because of the Proof of Work, but which would be more easily possible on a Proof of Stake blockchain (editor’s note: the future will tell us and I’m the first to be happy if I’m wrong). You who just read this article, what do you think? We are waiting for your opinion on the subject and on the others on our social networks or in private. Have a good reading.
CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Coinpri I have been navigating the waters of Blockchain for 5 years already.
Wait, I can see the Promised Land of Adoption in the distance.
