Tron project founder and CEO Justin Sun agreed with Elon Musk on crypto-related concerns. Specifically, Sun ensures that he now shares the criticism of the CEO of Tesla about the environmental danger that, in his opinion, represents the mining of Bitcoin.
On the other hand, he predicted that between July and August a new bullish rally of cryptocurrencies will open. The current bearish situation in which Bitcoin has dragged the entire market with it, could change due to investors are buying low.
However, Sun believes that a new rally in the price of cryptocurrencies is of little use if the Proof-Of-Work (PoW) remains as it is. It should be noted that some cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether work with the PoW protocol. It requires a large amount of energy to process transactions on the Blockchain.
Is there a lynching against Bitcoin mining?
Now it cannot be said for sure whether Musk and Sun’s “concerns” about Bitcoin mining are founded. The impact of cryptocurrency mining on the environment is a topic that has been intensely debated in recent years.
Until recently, crypto advocates felt on solid ground, especially after major studies. One of them was carried out by the Aalborg University of Denmark. It concludes that the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining is exaggerated for purposes far removed from reality.
The same researchers updated their views during a recent interview. In it, Susanne Köhler, lead author of the study confirms her past analyzes.
For Köhler, the equipment used for Bitcoin mining tends to be more efficient in terms of consumption. However, the adoption of the cryptocurrency and the boom in its price, bring with it an increase in the hashrate. This keeps energy consumption rising even with more efficient equipment.
It could be argued that the attacks that are now being presented against Bitcoin mining are still exaggerated. Some protagonists of the same, have some interest in the retracement of the pioneer cryptocurrency. For example, Justin Sun has a project (Tron), which is a rival to Bitcoin.
China’s role is vital in any estimate
An important aspect is that, although the environmental impact is not so exaggerated, it cannot be considered non-existent. On the contrary, estimates from some prestigious agencies such as the Cambridge Bitcoin Energy Comsuption CBECI Index, highlight a high consumption.
Now, with the strong onslaught against Bitcoin mining in China, consumption has dropped significantly. According to the CBECI, the theoretical low-level annualized consumption is 38.93 TWh. Meanwhile, the theoretical high consumption is 260.91 TWh. The latter, on April 10, was at 481.93 TWh.
Another important issue to highlight is that the energy consumption of Bitcoin is equivalent to that of countries like Argentina. At the same time, it is estimated that, in a few years, it could be equivalent to that of Italy. Some specialized media consider that the problem is not the magnitude of consumption, but the source of that energy.
China is one of the countries with the lowest electricity bill and most of this energy comes from coal. In this way, the carbon that is extracted from the subsoil and released into the atmosphere significantly accelerates climate change. In that sense, the indiscriminate growth of Bitcoin mining can become alarming for many.
Energy consumption by Bitcoin mining is now lower due to actions by Chinese authorities against farms in the Inner Mongolia province. Source: CBECI
The mining industry requires urgent solutions
In his statements on Bloomberg, Sun believes that Bitcoin mining requires immediate solutions. They, he stressed, must be permanent and oriented towards clean energy. He claimed that a large number of miners are using green energy, but the effort so far is not enough.
During the interview in the aforementioned medium, Justin Sun took the opportunity to promote his own project. Consider that PoW causes great damage to the environment, even with green energy. On the contrary, the Proof-Of-Stake (PoS) that TRX uses, reduces power consumption by up to 99%.
The latter, he points out, can be verified by noting that most of the new Blockchain projects tend towards PoS.
It should be taken into consideration that, for example, Musk claims that the enemy is not Bitcoin mining. The main struggle, he said, is between fiat money and cryptocurrencies. In this sense, it has launched a mining council with Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy, in which green solutions are promoted for coins mined with PoW.
Data to take into consideration
Justin Sun, CEO and founder of Tron, believes that PoW is harmful to the environment, highlighting the benefits of PoS. In his opinion, this reduces carbon emissions into the atmosphere by 99% compared to Bitcoin mining. It expresses that many miners use green energy, but the effort, so far, is not enough. Updated studies from Aalborg University from Denmark, reaffirm that the impact of mining on the environment is being exaggerated. Susan Köler, author of the article Life Cycle Assessment of Bitcoin Mining, highlighted that the blackouts of farms in China plus the efficiency of new equipment, tend to decrease considerably The impact Other studies affirm that the problem of Bitcoin mining is not the magnitude of energy consumed, but the source of it.
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