Bitcoin News and Finance
The Crypto Climate Accord Walks a Fine Line Between Self-Interest and the Greater Good Skip to main content

The Crypto Climate Accord Walks a Fine Line Between Self-Interest and the Greater Good

As the spotlight turns once again towards the environmental impact of blockchain technologies, support for the Crypto Climate Accord has come from curious corners of the industry, raising questions about its signatories’ motives.

Authenticity of CCA’s Support Remains Debatable

With concerns surrounding blockchain’s environmental impact garnering a lot of attention, the alarms have grown so loud that crypto mining was the hottest topic of discussion during this year’s UN World Environment Day.

This echoed increased support for initiatives designed to restore the natural ecosystem, proposed by several prominent personalities and environmentally-conscious investors. For instance, this year’s mid-May crypto market crash started when Elon Musk suddenly tweeted that Tesla won’t be accepting Bitcoin as payment due to ‘environmental concerns.’

While blockchain is a powerful and transformative technology that can support real-world cases across a growing range of sectors, its energy footprint is a matter of concern. Blockchains relying on the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism require high-performance computers, which consume immense amounts of power, leading to inefficiency, non-renewable resource consumption, and significant electronic waste.

To address the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency mining, a newly announced Crypto Climate Accord (CCA) takes on the challenge of transitioning all blockchains to renewable energy by 2030 or sooner and eliminating greenhouse emissions by 2040. Led by private organizations operating within the blockchain and fintech industries, the Accord aims to build a sustainable crypto ecosystem with support from the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.

As of now, the accord has garnered support from some influential names, including crypto company Ripple, blockchain software technology developer Consensys, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, and the UN’s ‘climate champions.’

But at this juncture where the planet has been filled with carbon emissions, are billionaires and industry evangelists suddenly regaining a conscience to restore the planet’s ecosystem and act for the greater good? Or is this simply a gimmick designed to suppress criticism and provide good PR?

Self-Promotion Parading as Environmental Activism

`Environmentally conscious’ investors and businesses could finally be waking up to solve the problem at hand, but this also might be more about virtue signaling and trying to appeal to the masses.

The most critical aspect to consider is that CCA is a privately-led initiative with no government backing, leading critics to doubt a self-regulated accord could be as effective as government policies for lowering crypto’s carbon footprint.

Take Ripple’s involvement in the accord and how it benefits from the green crypto initiative. By design, Ripple uses the less energy-intensive proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol, meaning it already has a minimal impact relative to PoW networks. As more and more blockchains are already opting for the PoS consensus protocol over the PoW protocol, it means that over time, crypto’s energy footprint will automatically decline.

Given that nearly all the signatories either already use green energy or are focused on energy efficiency, this Accord feels a bit more like self-serving activism than simply affecting industry change. As such, the Accord’s pronouncements can feel more like a pat on the back than a stern warning to the industry’s main polluters. With no teeth or enforcement, how can this group possibly fight the more significant issue at hand?

Institutional investors, VC firms, and angel investors already realize that PoS-based applications are taking over, and they have already invested billions in forthcoming dApps and protocols. So why are these very organizations the sole supporters of the CCA? Could the support be marketing their competitive advantages and designed to attract more users to their platform through a “greener” appeal?

With the noose already tightening around the PoW protocol due to its impact on the environment, many voices supporting green crypto appear to fall into the conflicted category of self-interest and selfishness. Given the incentives and money at stake within the industry, especially as networks compete for more users and adoption, this latest attempt to self-regulate feels a little insincere.

If money weren’t involved or at stake, the initiative might take on a different look and feel. But given the “winner take all” attitude prevailing in today’s crypto climate, the CCA might just be the edge that organizations feel is necessary to put them on a perceived higher moral plane, despite the genuine environmental concerns the industry must address.

Do you think CCA’s cause is environmentally conscious in nature or a self-promotional stunt of the companies on board? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory