Crypto and Big Cats: How NFTs Can Make Positive Change
Cryptocurrency and the Environment
The idea that mining cryptocurrency directly affects carbon emissions and climate change is outdated and somewhat misguided. Although it is true that the process of mining crypto requires an increasingly large amount of energy with a byproduct of carbon dioxide emission, the amount in comparison is actually much less than traditional banking systems.
When it comes to energy consumption of crypto vs. traditional banking systems, the process of mining is actually able to utilize renewable energy much more easily, therefore emitting less than 5% of the carbon dioxide of the financial service industry, and 0.12% of global emissions.
Having said that, even if it is difficult to assess the real scope of the impact of cryptocurrency mining, it has become evident that it is something that needs to be addressed. The ever growing concern about the negative strain on nature’s ecosystems is a top priority today for serious citizens and politicians.
Initiatives from Bitcoin adopters are applying natural power sources from their various mining locations, including utilizing China’s rainy season for hydropower, and natural gas flares that come as a result of oil extraction. As an example, Genesis Mining has partnered with Swedish institute Boden Business Agency to recycle the heat emitted from data centers into heating greenhouses for year-round food production in colder climates.
The Bitcoin Mining Council was formed on May 23 of this year, where a collection of North American miners agreed to provide not only transparency regarding their energy usage, but also a set standard of energy reporting from various cryptocurrencies, as well as commit to an increasing usage of renewable sources of energy.
On a similar note, Elon Musk announced that he changed his mind on Bitcoin as an option of payment on Tesla products until their mining techniques adopt more sustainable energy sources. This general context poses a challenging endeavour to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency.
Ethereum and NFTs
Ethereum has established itself as the leading platform when it comes to smart contracts and programmable money. The reality of Ethereum smart contracts today is that they bring into reality the possibility to put up ownership and certificates into the immutable blockchain. This allows the digital design of capital commerce into a decentralized fashion. It means a significant shift in the means of economic interaction as well as financial products, previously only granted by banks or capital institutions. This revolution is significant to the degree that it takes out the middleman, bringing the two parties involved in an ever closer interaction.
Because of that a series of different protocols were implemented to allow a communicability between different entities. One of those is the ERC-20 protocol, that makes it very easy to build a cryptocurrency token inside the Ethereum blockchain. It opened the space for a plethora of different currencies, for different objectives, with different missions, to coexist into a single code method. Besides the ERC-20, the most popular protocol, that gained major attention recently, is the ERC-721.
From Cryptokitties to Stray Cats, the ERC-721 protocol is an example of what smart contracts can bring to the real world. NFTs or non-fungible tokens have been accumulating hype mainly because of the digital art collectibility but have spread into many other areas like sports, events, real-estate and many more.
Ethereum cryptocurrency is currently transitioning from the harmful proof-of-work mining methods to a much more energy efficient proof-of-stake strategy. This requires users to validate transactions and create blocks as opposed to spending the energy required to run a node.
Stray Cats and Our Goal
We strongly believe in the conservation of the environment with a focus on the protection of the big cat community.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are more tigers living in captivity in the US than living in the wild. Most of these 5,000 captive tigers come from private homes, roadside attractions, or breeding facilities, and this number is most likely much higher. In 2016, the Fish and Wildlife Service increased protections for these captive tigers under the Endangered Species Act, but there is still more work to be done.
We wish to initiate significant change through our art.
We believe in protecting the environment, specifically the habitats of the big cat species, which are the source of our creativity. As we cultivate our inspiration from tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards, we wish to give back to these amazing creatures and bring positive change to their world and ours.
By supporting our Stray Cats NFT project with fair pricing strategies, you will not only have the chance to access our 8,000 unique collectible illustrations, but also participate in our community-based culture geared towards impacting the environment and the biodiversity under threat.
It is going to be donated the total sum of 50 ETH to institutions responsible for protecting endangered big cats. Besides that 30 ETH will also be made available to a Community Wallet controlled by the Stray Cats owners. We invite you to our website https://straycats.io/ and check our Road Map.
