In an effort to become a more sustainable project, the second most valuable and popular cryptocurrency on the market; Ethereum, made a massive software upgrade to reduce its carbon footprint.
This initiative aims to reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by nearly 99.95%, according to the Ethereum Foundation itself. A non-profit organization dedicated to the development and backing of the famous cryptoasset.
Until this update, Ethereum and Bitcoin were run under a mechanism known as “proof-of-work,” which required high-powered computers to solve complex puzzles. However, Ethereum now switched to a mechanism known as “proof of stake,” which is more energy efficient because it eliminates competition between computers and encourages users to use their ethers for generating more assets.
With this update, Ethereum seeks to “improve security, reduce energy consumption, increase the number of users on the network and increase its market capitalization.”
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old Russian programmer involved in Ethereum’s development, Vitalik Buterin, wrote on Twitter:
“Happy fusion everyone. This is a great moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Those who helped make the merger happen should be very proud today.”
According to the Digiconomist platform, which specializes in tracking cryptocurrency usage, a single Ethereum trade is equivalent to the weekly energy consumption of an average American household. And in contrast, this same media outlet stated that, with this update, the energy savings “would be the equivalent of the energy consumption of a country like Portugal.”
