From cavemen times to today’s blockchain times, the human race has seen the world going through many changes, both good and bad. The environment, unfortunately, had to bear the brunt of the new changes. Several forests were laid down to support the advancement of the human race. The impact of this is not unknown to us. The frightening melting of the snow caps, the rising pollution levels, the major climate shocks, and seasonal shifts, all are a few consequences of playing with nature’s balance.

Fluff-Promises or Genuine Impact?

Highlighting the ongoing endangered times, carbon budget reports foresee liveable conditions on our planet for the next 32 years only. In such a critical time, toying with this question whether digital currency can save the world demands genuine answers and not just fluff-promises. Is it too much to ask out of digital currency?

It can’t be denied that from its obscure beginnings, digital currency has come a long way. It has proved its mettle in many sectors such as education, health, finance, internet of things, etc. But can it save the world? Let us explore this question thoroughly in this article and see in what manner digital currency can save the world-

The needs for sustainable digital currency trend:

Bitcoin, in its initial stages, was generated with the regular computers which solved many complex mathematical equations in order to group transactions to form blocks. But as the demand grew, the regular PCs were not enough and thus required heavy software backed by huge machines. Many studies point at the heavy energy consumption by cryptocurrency, for instance- one single Bitcoin transaction consumes the power of more than 31 homes, (approximately 61 terawatt-hours). This heavy consumption of electricity, in turn, pointed out the sustainability factor of digital currency.

This has made many corporate giants shoulder the responsibility towards the environment and the related social issues. The inclination is therefore towards attaining clean energy and a clean climate.

The sustainable digital currency trend:

Digital currency has many forms. Some of them (digital currencies backed by commodities) are specially designed while keeping in mind the carbon offsets and, thus, help the environment in return. Some of them are even backed by tree-planting initiatives. Not only these digital currencies are great for the environment, but they are also a safe option for the investors. In addition, they offer more stability against market volatility.

Who are walking the talk?

Talking about great ideas is one thing, and then actually walking the talk is a whole different thing to do. Fortunately, there are many examples from the crypto sphere that are working towards more environment-favoring, stable and sustainable projects.

An attempt to tokenize carbon credits through a partnership between IBM and Veridium Labs:

The aim of this partnership is to track carbon footprints with blockchain and, therefore, deal with global warming. The CEO and co-founder of Veridium Labs- Todd Lemons added that it’s a step towards a “regenerative economy.” These issued digital tokens will be available on the Stellar blockchain and reports suggest that these tokens will be supported by environmental assets such as “Triple Gold REDD” as well as credits from ‘Infinite EARTH.’

A step to encourage the use of renewable energy by ‘Power Ledger’

A start-up called ‘Power Ledger’ is also shouldering the responsibility towards healthier planet earth. This is an Australian start-up that seeks to support energy transactions, trade of environmental commodities and encourages investment in renewable resources. On this platform, the user can easily sell electricity in real-time. It can be easily done by selling the extra energy that is stored on the solar panels of their houses. Another use-case of this software is that the blockchain can be used to track energy from different renewable sources in order to trade renewable energy credits.

Green Mining with Hydrominer:

The mission of Hydrominer is to replace the power-sucking mining processes with more environmental-friendly and sustainable options through Hydropower. This way, the cost, as well as energy consumption, can be pulled down substantially. Despite using renewable resources, Hydrominer wants to further explore more sustainable mining options.

An environment-friendly Bitcoin- ‘BitGreen’:

BitGreen offers an alternative to the traditional ‘proof-of-work’ mining process. It does so by flipping the incentive structure. The coins have greater access which in turn acts as credit. This as a whole reduces electricity consumption and it also makes the entire mining process very quick. This ‘proof-of-stake’ allows more and more users to participate in environmental-friendly mining and on the other hand, it doesn’t require heavy hardware and expensive support. BitGreen is a relatively new entry that will take time to be a mass choice. But nevertheless, it holds a lot of good promise. On the future acceptance of BitGreen, Daoud Schellin said-

“Although right now the odds are not in our favor, we believe it is only a matter of time before proof-of-work energy consumption becomes so egregious that people will begin to more aggressively seek out sustainable solutions.”

‘Venus Energy’ proposes to use wind turbines for mining:

Venus Energy is a mining company in Estonia. The company is Integrating Renewable Energy into the Blockchain by harnessing the winds on the Lithuanian coast through wind turbines.

Carbon backed stable coin- Ven:

Ven is a partially-carbon-backed stable coin. It is backed by issuance that really brings down the inflation risk. This stable coin offers ‘carbon credit.’ One carbon credit permits the user to lawfully emit one metric ton of CO2. Upon every purchase of Ven, carbon credits are purchased that further offset transactions. This mix of digital currency and environmental responsibility can save many forests and by extension our mother earth.

Our take:

We hope that all the above initiatives to support the environment must have made their points clear to you that digital currency through various ‘green efforts’ can bring about a real change to our planet earth. Saving or degrading the environment is a one-way road. Many research reports have warned that it is the high time we take our planet, its limited resources, and its environment seriously. The environment-friendly digital currency based endeavors that are enlisted in this article can have tangential and exceptional results if we give it proper time, patience, and support. We no longer can depend on non-renewable sources to fulfill our business goals; to steer away from the old patterns towards a healthier environment-friendly approach is the need of the hour! Digital currency is the answer to a more secure, faster, and eco-friendly future.