Clean NFTs — What are they and how can you get one?
There’s a lot of talk about the environmental impact of NFTs lately. Let’s take a closer look at what that means.
What is PoW (Proof of Work)
A PoW model is what Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other cryptocurrencies use to verify transactions. The ultra, extra, super-duper, simplified version is this: transactions are grouped into blocks (BLOCKchain… get it? ha.). Each individual transaction in the block needs to be independently verified. To do so, computers all over the world compete to answer complex formulas (usually math formulas from cryptography, hence, CRYTPOcurrency) related to each independent transaction; computers can go through millions of options in a single second. but it takes a lot of energy. When the correct answer is given, that independent transaction is verified. The computers doing the guessing/solving work are owned by crytpo miners who are often rewarded for their computer’s work with more of the specific currency they are mining.
This article on BitDegree breaks it down in much better while still keeping it simple enough for a mere mortal to understand.
Why is PoW so bad?
Well, all that math, and verifying, and proving, is, work. The work is done by computers running huge software systems with millions of transactions a second all day long. Have you ever had a laptop that you’re using for some intense gaming or photo-editing and it starts heating up so much you can’t even put it on your lap anymore? Or, have you ever been in a server room with dozens — or thousands — of computers all spitting out hot, hot, heat and threatening to shut down even the most advanced, high powered AC systems on the planet?
Let’s go back to elementary science for second and think about why that’s no good for the environment.
1st Law of Thermodynamics (for dummies): energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transferred [within a closed system]
So, all that heat is just energy being released and that energy had to come from somewhere. In most cases, it came from an outlet in the wall that’s connected to a wiring system in a building, that’s connected to a local power grid, that, if you’re in the United States, is coming from fossil fuels 59% of the time. All that work is eating up fossil fuels at a staggering rate.
To quote The Hill, “Ethereum mining consumes about 26.5 terawatt-hours of electricity a year. To put that into perspective — that is nearly as much energy used annually by the entire country of Ireland.”
Whew, that’s a lotta energy! But wait, there may be a solution…
What is PoS (Proof of Stake)?
For those of you holding Ethereum or buying NFTs on the regular, you’ve probably heard about the upcoming move to Ethereum 2.0 which will be a PoS model. This should reduce gas fees and clean up the environmental impact of the current model. Why is that?
Well, it’s complicated.
I’m going to do my best to describe it in the most simple terms I can, but I highly recommend reading this article or watching the video on Binance Academy.
Basically, instead of buying a bunch of servers to mine Bitcoin or current-day Ethereum, an investor would “stake” an amount of currency. Think of it kind of like a CD, but different. You stake a certain amount of a currency for a certain period of time (like a CD, your money is tied up for a period of time). The amount is then used to verify transactions, but the same complex math problems aren’t needed. It still involves energy, but far less.
What does this have to do with NFTs?
Currently, the major NFT Marketplaces all run on PoW systems, tied to the ETH blockchain. This includes Rarible, MakersPlace, SuperRare, and Nifty Gateway. Even if you purchase in DAI or another coin, the transaction still uses the ETH network. This means there’s a lot of energy used through the PoW system, and that’s why gas fees are well over $40 every day lately.
But don’t fear, there are alternative marketplaces popping up everyday!
What Marketplaces do NOT use PoW blockchains?
I recently came across Ignas Blažys, an amazing artist on NFT Showroom, who actively promotes clean(er) NFTs on Twitter. He’s a part of the CleanNFT community on Discord and, along with the rest of the community, has put together this handy spreadsheet including almost all of the NFT marketplaces currently running. Here’s a snapshot of some of the PoS platforms listed.
You can also scroll down on the main spreadsheet to view all the PoW platforms so you know what to avoid.
So to sum up
Platforms like Known Origin and Foundation use a ton of energy for transactions. That energy is heating up our world more and more every day. New platforms are constantly being released to try to help mitigate the problem, and hopefully ETH 2.0 will allow all marketplaces to clean up their act.
In the next week(s) we’ll be doing reviews on a lot of the alternative marketplaces, so keep your eyes open! In the meantime, try to buy your NFTs on a cleaner platform to reduce your environmental impact.
