Is All Cryptocurrency Mining Harmful to Our Environment?
The blockchain technology is now widely adopted in many fields, including banking, finance, administration, legal affairs, and investments. It can also be used for health and environment, and it shows its potential as it is utilized more and more worldwide. In the case of FLETA, we have developed a blockchain-based eCRF system, a clinical trial data collection tool, that helps people manage clinical trial data and contribute to the healthcare industry.
However, at the same time, blockchain technology is blamed for its harmful influence on the environment. The reason for it is cryptocurrency mining. It is known that Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies are not entirely eco-friendly.
The only way to create Bitcoins, since there is no central bank that issues the digital asset, is through miners. The miners solve cryptographic problems by using software specially designed for mining. Of course, energy is used when miners use the software to mine those cryptocurrencies.
In the case of Bitcoin, only the fastest miner who solves the mathematical problem gets the mining reward, and miners compete to be the one. As the price of Bitcoin has increased, more people have participated in mining. This phenomenon caused severe competition among the miners, and the problems miners have to solve became much more complicated. As a result, miners need high-performance mining equipment that requires more energy than before to win the competition. Moreover, an increased number of miners and difficulty of problems also provoke a large amount of electricity consumption. Cryptocurrency miners are responsible for solving provided math problems, which is obtained using software specially designed to solve cryptographic problems. Of course, energy is used when miners use software for mining those cryptocurrencies.
In the case of Bitcoin, only the fastest miner who solves the mathematical problem gets the mining reward, and miners compete to be the one. As the price of Bitcoin has increased, more people have participated in mining. This phenomenon caused severe competition among the miners, and the problems miners have to solve became much more complicated. As a result, miners need high-performance mining equipment that requires more energy than before to win the competition. Moreover, an increased number of miners and difficulty of problems also provoke a large amount of electricity consumption.
How much electricity is used for Bitcoin mining?
According to Digiconomist, it estimates that currently, the electricity expenditure in Bitcoin mining exceeds that of countries such as Denmark, Bulgaria, and Belarus, and accounts for more than 25% of Holland’s energy consumption, 15% of Australia or 10% of the United Kingdom.
For example, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), cryptocurrency is positioned as one of the businesses that consume the most electricity worldwide. If these cryptocurrencies were a country, they would be ranked 41st nation that consumes much power annually, according to Digiconomist.
So How Can We Use The Technology to Solve Our Problem?
As mentioned, cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of energy, which inevitably harms the environment. Then, how can we prevent this problem from the blockchain industry?
One of the solutions is choosing one of the many alternatives to the traditional Proof of Work consensus protocol. Proof of Stake, for instance, is far more eco-friendly since mining equipment is unnecessary.
How is FLETA Contributing to Saving the Planet
FLETA is a platform created for the deployment of decentralized applications. FLETA does not use a proof of work consensus algorithm as it has created its own. Proof of Formulation (PoF) is a new consensus model that replaces the traditional PoW. This new consensus protocol eliminates the possibility of unnecessary forks and allows blocks to be generated in a designated order.
This consensus algorithm does not require a lot of electricity, similar to Proof of Stake that is eco-friendly.
FLETA is not only infinitely scalable but also offers a high transaction processing speed using its original block design. The ability to infinitely scale is achieved through a multi sub-chain system. Whenever a DApp is created on top of FLETA, a new sub-chain is also deployed, which means that every single dApp can be operated independently and without affecting other DApps.
Conclusion
FLETA also has created an eco-friendly consensus algorithm Proof of Formulation that allows the platform to be more scalable and efficient. Developers can easily build their DApps on top of FLETA and enjoy all the benefits of the platform like higher transaction speed, scalability, and being able to operate independently.
