Someone who keeps track of cryptocurrencies and related happenings might have heard about ongoing debates and actions asking about shifting Bitcoin from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake protocol. Now the Ripple co-founder, former CEO, and Executive Chairman of Ripple’s board of directors Chris Larsen backed the new ongoing campaign demanding Bitcoin’s transition from PoW to PoS.
As per the Bloomberg report, Larsen alongside some climate activist groups including Greenpeace is launching an all-new campaign regarding their demands titled ‘Change the Code, Not the Climate.’ The whole point of designing such a campaign is to bring awareness about the effects of bitcoin on the environment and put pressure on its community to shift its model to proof-of-stakes.
Several reports are there that claim that the bitcoin network consumes as much as the power that is used by Sweden currently, which defames the network due to its energy inefficiency. In an interview with Bloomberg, Larsen said that the energy consumption of bitcoin could increase in five years to the same amount as Japan’s power consumption.
The campaign has intentions to purchase more and more ads over the upcoming month in order to spread its message and thoughts. The efforts are being made for mobilizing millions of Greenpeace and Environmental Working Group members for a grassroots push against the bitcoin network.
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In charge of the campaign, Michael Brune told that the people in the campaign are ready to stay for a long difficult time in the hope that those entities and individuals who although cared about climate change but are financing particularly bitcoin, to show them the effects and compel the leadership to agree for considering this as a problem and which needs to be addressed.
Brune further mentioned several companies which the campaign is looking to gather support from. Such entities include BlackRock, PayPal, and Goldman Sachs. Ripple Executive further noted the Ethereum network’s plan for switching it to proof-of-stakes in upcoming months and he also called bitcoin an ‘outlier’. Larsen mentioned newer protocols like Solana and Cardano that have built on technologies that consume less energy. He was also reported to put funding of approx $5 million into the campaign.
However, Chris Larsen started getting criticism immediately from several well-known and prominent crypto community members such as Ryan Selkis, founder of Messari and Co-founder and CTO of Casa, Jameson Loop. Ryan raised questions on Ripple executive’s company in legal lawsuits and Jameson asked for authenticity for the claims that the campaign is making which Larsen is backing.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/04/03/why-does-ripple-co-founder-want-bitcoin-to-shift-to-proof-of-stakes/