Greenpeace and other groups are running ads in the NYT, WSJ, and others, funded by Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, highlighting bitcoin's environmental impact
Consortium launches effort advocating changes to the cryptocurrency's code — A consortium of environmental groups launched …
Wall Street JournalPaul Vigna
Context & Ripple Effects
The campaign escalates a dispute that miners had largely answered through supply-side measures: a voluntary Crypto Climate Accord and partnerships with nuclear plant owners. Greenpeace and its allies are instead pressing for a change to Bitcoin’s code, shifting the argument from how mining is powered to how the network operates.
Larsen’s funding also fits a period in which crypto companies and trade groups were increasing their US lobbying spending. It matters because a prominent crypto executive is financing environmental advocacy aimed at Bitcoin rather than a conventional industry opponent.
First-order effects
Greenpeace and the consortium gain paid access to NYT, WSJ, and other audiences for their case that Bitcoin’s environmental impact requires a protocol-level response.
Bitcoin miners and advocates now have to defend renewable-energy and nuclear-power initiatives against a campaign arguing that cleaner power sources do not resolve the underlying concern.
Second-order effects
The campaign weakens the sufficiency of voluntary mining commitments such as the Crypto Climate Accord, raising the value of evidence that energy sourcing can address critics’ concerns without code changes.
Crypto political and communications spending faces a more fragmented landscape as Larsen’s funding places a Bitcoin-focused environmental message alongside the sector’s own legitimacy efforts.
Third-order effects
If climate advocates continue to frame Bitcoin’s energy use as a design issue rather than a sourcing issue, crypto’s environmental legitimacy debate will increasingly turn on protocol governance, not only miners’ power contracts.
The episode points to a broader contest in which crypto insiders deploy capital on opposing sides of policy and public-interest arguments about the sector’s social license.
The trend: Crypto’s legitimacy gap is becoming a fight over whether environmental criticism can be solved by cleaner infrastructure or requires changes to the underlying networks.
Last year, I published an op-ed calling for Bitcoin to consider a move away from PoW to a low energy validation method. Today, I'd like to share an update on how my thinking has evolved on this front. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
You have two options for financial instruments: commodities and securities. Removing PoW and replacing it with some Rube Goldberg “staking” creates securities and Ponzis, and divorces a coin from being a commodity. Energy is the only reasonable commodity on which to base Bitcoin.…
Greenpeace, with funding from Ripple's Chris Larsen, is launching a full-on propaganda attack on Bitcoin. Long-debunked BS like BTC-will-warm-the-planet-by-2- degrees are presented as facts. Every journalist who falls for this isn't doing his/her job. https://www.cleanupbitcoin.c…
Today's crypto industry is blessed with incredible talent, unlimited capital and is on a mission to make the world better. I truly believe it can turn this climate problem into a solution - what if miners were incentivized to remove carbon from the atmosphere?
Today, the US hosts ~40% of the hashrate. Climate-conscious miners like @GryphonMining, @ArgoBlockchain and @RiotBlockchain strive to use 100% renewables and be responsible actors (shutting off power when grids are overloaded, etc.). I applaud their efforts.
On the other hand, plenty of miners are repurposing old coal & gas plants and not being responsible stewards of the amount of power they're increasingly using (jacking up energy bills for residents/sucking power from the grid regardless of overload). This is unacceptable.
The “Executive Chairman of Shitcoin” ist trying to destroy #Bitcoin by lying about the energy use. I guess we should have seen stuff like this coming. The media will eat this up. Don't fall for it. Proof of Work is the essence of #Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. https://twitter.com/.…
Sickening that people like this who “made” their fortunes by fooling people into buying worthless tokens are now trying to destroy humanity's best chance at an open, neutral, decentralized currency. Thankfully they will fail. https://twitter.com/...
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen is bankrolling a $5 million ad campaign calling on Bitcoin-friendly CEOs to switch the network to proof of stake. Perhaps he prefers a world where CEOs can centrally control the future of a cryptocurrency network https://www.wsj.com/...