Bitcoin Will Reach Full Potential Via Renewable Energy Mining: Ripple CEO

Bitcoin will reach full potential only via renewable energy mining according to the Ripple CEO because only then will Bitcoin mining start using 100% of its capabilities so let’s read more in our latest Bitcoin news.

Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse clarified his opinion on BTC saying that he hasn’t argued for a ban against it. He did outline that one transaction with BTC requires about 75 gallons of oil and noted that the entire crypto space has to shift towards turning BTC mining into a clean energy business. Bitcoin’s expanding price garnered attention across the world and some were even fast to praise the assets for the unique characteristics while others focused on the negative part of these features like the mining itself.

The process of validating transactions, creating new coins, securing the network uses a lot of electricity which raised concerns about the carbon footprint which the asset leaves behind. People like Bill Gates and Janet Yellen were also quite vocal about this issue. Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse touched upon the topic in a recent Bloomberg interview and said that Bitcoin will reach full potential only if it goes green:

 “Bitcoin as a payment mechanism is among the least efficient payment mechanisms that mankind has ever created because as the price of Bitcoin goes up, the energy consumption and the carbon footprint continue to scale aggressively. I think we can’t lose sight as one Bitcoin transaction is equivalent to about 75 gallons of gasoline being burned.”

He praised bitcoin because of its store of value capabilities and called it “exceptional” but his words didn’t go unnoticed because there are some BTC proponents that question his math and crypto support as a whole. Garlinghouse is now in the midst of a legal case against the US SEC but he was quick to respond to the Twitter attacks. He explained that he is not advocating that regulators should ban the main cryptocurrency as some suggested:

 “Cambridge BTC Index’s avg March data (132.07 Terawatt hour annualized) / 365 = 0.362 TWh (daily avg energy). With March’s avg number of txns/dai (301,359), you get 0.000001201 TWh (avg energy/txn).

Using 0.49 Megatonne CO2/TWh (Stoll’s estimate – weighted avg carbon intensity is 0.48 – 0.5 CO2 Mt/THw) -> 0.000000588 Mt CO2/txn. EPA shows 112523894 gallons of gas produces 1 Mt CO2, so ~70 gallons of gas is emitted from 0.000000588 Mt of CO2.”