{"id":22116,"date":"2022-12-07T09:01:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T09:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/ethereum-change-cut-cryptocurrency-power-demand"},"modified":"2022-12-07T09:01:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T09:01:09","slug":"ethereum-change-cut-cryptocurrency-power-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/ethereum-change-cut-cryptocurrency-power-demand","title":{"rendered":"Ethereum change cut cryptocurrency power demand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Angola. <\/strong><\/span>A change in the way the cryptocurrency Ethereum works may have cut its power consumption by country-sized amounts.<\/b><\/p>\n

The amount of electricity saved is similar to that used by Ireland or even Austria, work published in the data-science journal Patterns suggests.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin, the largest crypto, is thought to use more electricity than Finland.<\/p>\n

It has even been suggested emissions from Bitcoin could exceed the global savings currently made by driving electric vehicles, the article notes.<\/p>\n

Fossil fuels<\/b><\/p>\n

Like all cryptocurrencies, Ethereum relies on a blockchain, a giant, constantly updating database, logging every transaction.<\/p>\n

Previously, this was maintained and verified by a system called Proof of Work, used by many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Companies and volunteers whose computers helped to run the network were rewarded with new cryptocurrency coins.<\/p>\n

The more work they completed, the greater the chance of creating new coins.<\/p>\n

This encouraged businesses to set up massive warehouses of computers running 24-7, often on energy derived from fossil fuels, the article suggests.<\/p>\n

But on 15 September, in an event known as The Merge, Ethereum switched to a system called Proof of Stake, where the chance of creating a new coin no longer depends on the amount of computing work completed.<\/p>\n

Legal limits<\/b><\/p>\n

The technical complexity of the switch was compared to rebuilding a skyscraper’s foundations while it remained standing.<\/p>\n

But it cut Ethereum’s electrical energy consumption by at least 99.84%, the peer-reviewed “perspective” article suggests.<\/p>\n

The Ethereum blockchain also supports hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of other coins and crypto products such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).<\/p>\n

But the paper’s author, Alex De Vries, a data-science and economics researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, warns the computers may simply have switched to creating other cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said legal limits on energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining should be considered.<\/p>\n

Mr De Vries said: “The Bitcoin community has been very anti-change – but the Ethereum community has shown that despite concerns and resistance, it is possible to make the necessary changes on a live blockchain, which means that the Bitcoin community may need a little bit of a nudge from the outside to actually make things happen.”<\/p>\n

Environmental concerns<\/b><\/p>\n

Gavin Brown an associate professor at the University of Liverpool, told BBC News: “Sustainability is an essential problem to resolve in the crypto space. To achieve this, the prospect of new regulation is an important lever.”<\/p>\n

But it was in the interests of for Bitcoin and Ethereum enthusiasts to clean up their own act to attract money from institutional investors such as banks or pension funds.<\/p>\n

“Much of that money may presently want to invest in crypto but is unable to do so until or unless crypto becomes more sustainable,” he said.<\/p>\n

And Mr De Vries warned it would be premature for the Ethereum community to declare a “complete victory” over the environmental concerns facing crypto assets “as the blockchain-based system remains relatively inefficient compared to more centralised alternatives”.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Angola<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Angola. A change in the way the cryptocurrency Ethereum works may have cut its power consumption by country-sized amounts. The amount of electricity saved is similar to that used by Ireland or even Austria, work published in the data-science journal Patterns suggests. Bitcoin, the largest crypto, is thought to use more electricity than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,337,329],"class_list":["post-22116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-angola","tag-angola"],"yoast_head":"\nEthereum change cut cryptocurrency power demand - Angola<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/ethereum-change-cut-cryptocurrency-power-demand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethereum change cut cryptocurrency power demand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Angola. 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