Blockchain’s Potential in the Green Economy and Society

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, including their recent evolutions like DeFi and NFTs, operate under a manifesto of transparency and trust, aiming to deconstruct an archaic system that does not reflect the modern and global spirit of a post-internet society.

The technological processes involved have nonetheless been criticized for their environmental impact. As noble as the ideals of the blockchain movement might be, their realization should not be putting us back at square one in terms of energy usage and carbon buildup. This is currently a sore point for the ecosystem, as most platforms and exchanges do not invest meaningful amounts into social impact initiatives or into offsetting their carbon footprint. 

Making blockchain a green reality, and using its wide potential to further environmental causes, is not just a possibility but a crucial direction to take in order to make it a long-term and sustainable solution for a new financial environment. 

Elon Musk and Tesla’s Green Statement

Elon Musk has recently taken a soft stand against the acceptance of payments in Bitcoin for Tesla, an apparent backtracking on a decision taken months before that considerably increased the popularity of BTC and other blockchains.

Musk has declared that he is not going to support Bitcoin until it becomes greener and more sustainable, tweeting about Bitcoin’s “insane” energy usage trend.

But what does it mean for Bitcoin and blockchain to become greener?

Many industries and Governments are already researching green solutions for blockchain usage. One example comes from El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele had promised in May to initiate a green energy source that would have supplied Bitcoin’s computational power needs, and as promised, the country has immediately started its testing.

Geothermal-based mining has already been used in countries such as Norway and Iceland, where geothermal energy is a popular and convenient alternative to carbon-fossil fuel. 

Certainly, each country has different environmental features, and volcanoes or geysers are not equally distributed over the world. In truth, hydroelectric energy has been predominant in Bitcoin mining, with the Sichuan region in China acting as one of the largest hubs in the world until China’s government decided to ban mining altogether. Nonetheless, coal and non-renewable sources are still present.

The larger environmental problem of Bitcoin is its energy footprint scales with its value. If Bitcoin were to reach $10T in market capitalization, its energy requirements would balloon to double-digits percentages of worldwide electricity consumption. While one could certainly argue that such consumption could be justified for such a massively valued network, it would still be just about 2% of global wealth. Proof-of-work ultimately uses too much energy, and its protection against 51% attacks is comparatively low. This is why the blockchain world is largely pivoting to proof-of-stake solutions — but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make PoW more efficient today.

Private users can choose to use green blockchain technologies 

Appealing to governments banning Bitcoin mining or regulating it with more renewables usage are certainly possible steps to take. But appealing to centralized authorities certainly goes against the spirit of blockchain — we can all start doing something.

Mining can be made less wasteful with iM or Intelligent Mining. The project, once launched, will allow anyone to join in eco-friendly and decentralized mining. It makes a point of using renewable solar energy to power the miners, and it aims to decentralize operations by letting anyone take part. The ownership in the iM intelligent mining is represented by iM token, which is the platform’s native token. iM token can yield staking rewards to the holder over time and can be used to stake in exchanges, liquidity pools, or in the iM dApp. Profits from mining rewards are used to reward token holders at a rate of 12% per year.

We’re not just making another token. IM is changing the fabric of the blockchain. We are making #Bitcoin green! Check us out at https://t.co/mF8FoDmxiR! pic.twitter.com/R3sQhHgaxm

— iM Intelligent Mining (@IM_Intel_Mining) June 8, 2021

Another great example of green blockchain initiatives is Popcorn, an eco-friendly DAO and DeFi protocol that aims to create a carbon-neutral blockchain environment.

Popcorn works just like any other DeFi lending platform like Compound, but it redirects a large chunk of protocol fees to support social impact programs. The community can nominate, vote for, and provide grants to worthy causes, which include environmental initiatives but also open-source and education.

Plus, thanks to the partnership with the carbon removal platform Patch, Popcorn is completely carbon neutral. 

🚨🍿 Partnership Announcement 🍿🚨

Thanks to @usepatch, Popcorn is crypto’s FIRST high yield, high impact asset manager 🥇🌱🤑

Patch allows us to stay climate positive by neutralizing our carbon footprint!🙅‍♂️🗑️

Stay green & do #DeFi with Popcorn!🍿😺https://t.co/sKB9940A8j pic.twitter.com/C0UOzWKtKK

— Popcorn (@Popcorn_DAO) October 5, 2021

Finally, we can support the environment by unlocking a device’s unused power for blockchain purposes.

This is exactly what Cudos does with its decentralized cloud computing network that enables users to sell or consume decentralized computing resources via the blockchain.

A large amount of computational power, both from personal laptops and commercial servers goes to waste each year, and this power might be put to better use and reduce useless CO2 emissions.

On Cudos Network, resources are charged in CUDOS, tokens that can be used for computing, deploying, and building dApps. Rewards are given to stakers on the network and also for Cudos development and dApp/smart contracts. Cudos is working with many large global AI, video rendering and video streaming providers to use the extra computing capacity.

Stakers will earn a share of the network transaction fees and developers will earn a share of the revenues from the Cudos treasury, making sure all parties are incentivized and benefit from the decentralized model.

One giant leap for the cloud🌩️ industry and #blockchain technology begins on Monday 20th September as we launch our incentivised testnet #ProjectArtemis🚀 🌔 https://t.co/sFhTS1xEHv

— CUDOS (@CUDOS_) September 17, 2021

Blockchain’s green future is a shared choice

The global need for CO2 reduction and the shift in market tendencies, led by a gradual and collective understanding of the issue we are facing, will surely propel a stronger push to greener technology.

More testing and improvements still need to be done but, as we have seen, there already is a wide range of green alternatives to “classic” blockchain tech waste.

No matter if the changes are made by governments, enterprises, developers, or users, mutual action is required to make innovative systems such as blockchain a game-changer for a better world.