Mining bitcoins appears to be an energy-intensive activity. Last week, Casino Reports found out that bitcoin uses so much power that the electricity used per transaction would be enough to power a whole American house for almost a month. Hence, bitcoins have a negative environmental effect. The remarkable high energy cost is considered as a big flaw in the cryptocurrency technology, but BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen revealed his plans to launch his own eco-friendly bitcoin in the upcoming months. The new digital payment method is to become the main rival to the traditional bitcoin as it is to use less energy. Mr. Cohen named his upcoming green bitcoin after the delicious and healthy Chia seeds.
During an interview on the ‘Steal This Show‘ podcast, Bram Cohen announced the news about the technological revolution, which he plans to introduce very soon. He shared that his idea is to make use of cheap and unused storage space on hard drives, and proofs of time. Mr. Cohen aims at stopping the excessive use of power and improve the cryptocurrency.
It is interesting to note that the idea to create a more eco-friendly bitcoin technology is far from new. In 2013, PeerCoin tried to introduce a similar idea and reduce the energy demands of the Bitcoin network. PeerCoin’s attempt to revolutionize bitcoin technology remained unsuccessful. The latest attempt to refine bitcoin network is presented by Bram Cohen. Having in mind Cohen’s impressive technological breakthrough, many people are optimists that he is to cope with the hard task to make bitcoin more efficient and environmentally harmless. Currently, the inventor of BitTorrent is developing the Chia Network. He shared that his goal is to present Chia sometime in 2018.
Bitcoin’s Weak Spots
According to Mr. Cohen, the existing bitcoin has 2 main weak spots – the negative environmental impact of mining and the concentration of miners. The traditional bitcoin uses plenty of energy, which is well-linked to the increased carbon dioxide and global warming. Bitcoin uses power-intensive proofs of work to verify the blockchain. Mr. Cohen is to address this problem by storing bitcoin’s power-hungry drives on unused space. This means that Chia is to rely on proofs of space rather than on proofs of work.
The other problem, which Mr. Cohen needs to solve is the instability that ensues from the handful of bitcoin minors, who have the most inexpensive entry to power exerting outsized influence. In fact, the two problems are interlinked, as the centralization of minors occurs due to the difference in electricity pricing and the temperature. Consequently, the minors concentrate in places where it is colder and the electricity prices are lower.
