Bitcoin in the crosshairs of environmentalists: “enough Proof of Work, we need to change the technology”
An initiative called Change the Code, not the Environment calls for the transition of Bitcoin from the Proof-of-Work protocol to the Proof-of-Stake protocol.
A group of activists is clamoring for the abandonment of the Proof-of-Work protocol , which is the technology underlying the functioning of the main cryptocurrencies. The initiative is called Change the Code .
It is not, therefore, a tout court condemnation of cryptocurrencies, but an attempt to convince companies, DAOs and miners to promote and approve the transition to solutions with less impact on the environment. The PoW protocol was not born with cryptocurrencies, it was originally designed with the aim of fighting the first email spam campaigns.
The blockchain is a decentralized ledger, there is no central body or server in charge of processing and approving each transaction. Thus this task is entrusted to the so-called miners. Miners compete with each other for solving very complex mathematical problems (such as hash functions). Only those who arrive first at the solution verify the new block, obtaining an economic reward in exchange. To do this, miners use machines specially designed for this purpose, which consume a lot of electricity.
Bitcoin , the first cryptocurrency, uses PoW and so do the main alternatives, such as ZCash, Monero and so on. Ethereum today uses PoW, but the foundation that has been following the project for years has been working on the transition to the Proof of Stake protocol . It works differently and doesn’t have a big impact on the environment. Over the years, several less decentralized cryptocurrencies have also emerged – and less close to the original cypherpunk philosophy – designed to be faster, less expensive and optimized for DeFi and NFTs: among these is Solana , which uses a protocol called Proof-of -History .
Greenpace USA also joins the Change the Code campaign . The director of the US branch, Rolf Stark, explained that changing the Bitcoin code is increasingly important. “The solutions – explains the activist – must however come from the community of developers and experts.” Hence the motto change the code, not the climate .
However, the campaign’s request risks running into strong resistance. The Bitcoin maximalists do not look favorably on the abandonment of the PoW protocol, which they believe is (probably rightly) the only suitable tool to guarantee without compromise the properties underlying cryptocurrencies: decentralization, permission-less and censorship-proof.
Recently, the New York State legislature approved a moratorium that effectively prohibits the use of fossil fuels for mining Bitcoin (and all PoW cryptocurrencies). However, the law must receive the final approval of the governor of the state, who has the power to veto.
