Bitcoin Or Ethereum? ETH to Cut Emissions by 99%

ETH to cut emissions by 99%

ETH is undergoing a massive technology upgrade that will cut its carbon emissions by 99%. This new technology will allow Ethereum to move away from the old proof of work system and into a more energy-efficient proof of stake system. This will also remove the need for miners, the energy-intensive part of cryptocurrency mining.

This shift will make Ethereum much more secure and scalable. This move will merge the Ethereum Mainnet and the Beacon Chain, making it much easier to scale the network.

Bitcoin consumes more electricity than Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is now the second largest Bitcoin miner in the world. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, the country accounted for 18 percent of the global hash rate in August. This puts it second only to the United States. But that does not mean that Kazakhstan is ignoring the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining.

Bitcoin mining involves using high-powered computers, which consume vast amounts of electricity. Recently, the country's electricity provider, KEGOC, cut off power to crypto miners because of the country's unstable electricity supply. The recent blackout, which affected millions of customers in neighboring Russia, has caused a spike in electricity usage, which may have been the cause of the outage.

Ethereum 2.0 aims to reduce energy consumption

Ethereum 2.0 aims to be more energy efficient than today's energy consumption. Its developers have plans to implement a new code overhaul in 2019 that will require only a fraction of the power it uses today. That's a big deal because Ethereum currently consumes more than nine terawatt-hours of energy per day.

Ethereum's new proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is designed to reduce energy consumption significantly. It's much more scalable, secure, and sustainable than proof-of-work. However, it's not without its challenges. Several teams are working on upgrading the current protocol to proof-of-stake.

Ethereum's switch to proof-of-stake

The switch to proof-of-stake will drastically reduce the amount of electricity that Ethereum uses to confirm transactions. This is mainly because the new system will eliminate the need for users and supercomputers to check each transaction. As a result, the amount of electricity that Ethereum uses will be reduced by 99%. Ethereum has been testing proof-of-stake for a year on its experimental blockchains but is set to switch to a proof-of-stake system on its central platform this month.

The switch from mining to proof-of-stake will reduce the energy consumption of the entire Ethereum ecosystem. This change will eliminate the need for "miners," who run powerful computer hardware all day to generate random numbers and affect the whole network's security. These miners are responsible for about 72 terawatt-hours of energy each year, comparable to Colombia's power consumption. In addition, they are accountable for the carbon footprint equivalent to the emissions of about two hundred American homes.

ETH's transition to PoS

After a year of testing, Ethereum is preparing to transition to a proof-of-stake model, cutting its energy use by 99%. This will allow users to validate their crypto transactions rather than relying on supercomputers. The new system will also require users to stake large amounts of blockchain tokens as collateral, ensuring that they act honestly. Users who attempt to conduct fraudulent transactions will lose their stake.

The change will reduce ETH's overall electricity consumption by almost 90%, according to Alex de Vries, the founder of the Digiconomist website. He estimates that the Ethereum network uses the equivalent of 72 terawatt-hours of electricity each year or the equivalent of Switzerland's annual emissions. Moreover, the switch from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake could eliminate the electricity requirements of Portugal or about a quarter of all data centers around the world.

ETH's carbon footprint

Ethereum is down 3% today and 23% in the last month. However, it is still up 5% for the past 90 days. This is due to the Merge, which should open up new opportunities for the asset. Once the Merge takes place, ETH will switch to proof-of-stake consensus.

This should reduce its environmental impact and spark institutional interest in the purchase. Moreover, it could also lead to greater adoption of cryptocurrency by the public.

Conclusion

When compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum has a much lower carbon footprint. Its new proof-of-stake system eliminates the need for mining and puzzles. Instead, validators stake tokens in return for a chance to validate new blocks and receive tickets in return.

Even with this new feature, validators still need computers to store data and verify transactions, but their hardware isn't nearly as energy-intensive as crypto miners' data farms. The energy consumed will depend on the number of validators and the equipment used.