Since the turn of the year, the media spotlight has been ever-present around the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies. Staggeringly in February, Cambridge University suggested that Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency of them all, uses more electricity annually than the whole of Argentina, a country that has an estimated population of over 45 million.
The reason behind Bitcoin’s staggering energy use is down to the cryptocurrency relying on a ‘Proof of Work’ method that requires huge volumes of calculations to be undertaken on scientific computers to produce just a single token.
It’s worth noting that a proof of work method isn’t a required necessity for cryptocurrencies. Currencies that adopt a ‘proof of storage’ or ‘proof of stake’ system use far less energy.
With that in mind, we thought we would look at four cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies that are at the helm of green innovation and sustainability.
Holochain is an open-sourced framework for peer-to-peer applications and its HoloTokens. The tokens require zero mining, meaning they don’t rely on proof-of-work calculations.
The objective of Holochain is to support and enable social interactions through computing frameworks that allow collective intelligence and collaboration amongst peers.
Whilst Holo provides the peer-to-peer hosting platform for Holochain apps, think of Holo as a similar concept to Airbnb.
Watch this space, we think 2021 will provide to be a big year for the business!
Founded in 2017, as a solution to the environmental impact of Bitcoin, BitGreen is a community-driven initiative that provides an energy-efficient alternative to Proof of Work cryptocurrencies.
Since its early years, the company has gone on to create a non-profit foundation that oversees the maintenance of the BitGreen project.
As an offering, BitGreen incentivises consumers to make eco-friendly decisions such as buying sustainable products or carpooling on a travel app, if they do users can earn BITG.
Founded by Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Ethereum, the objective of Cardano is to provide a more balanced and sustainable ecosystem for cryptocurrencies.
Cardano is built by a decentralised community of scientists, engineers and thought leaders all driving for a sustainable future. The platform itself is mainly used as a digital currency but has the capacity to be used for digital contracts, DApps and other purposes. Impressively the platform can sustain 1000 transactions in a second, compared to Bitcoin’s seven in the same timeframe.
Nano is a software designed to facilitate fee-free cryptocurrency transactions. Uniquely designed to provide simple peer-to-peer transfer of value, Nano empowers individuals with the most efficient and accessible digital money possible, and in the process connecting them to the global economy with minimal impact.
Similar to the Holochain, Nano requires no mining, printing or minting and considers itself to be a truly sustainable form of digital money.
Their motto is no fuss, no fees no waiting.
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