Ripple’s Chris Larsen Proposed A Change To Bitcoin’s Code

Ripple’s Chris Larsen, the co-founder of the company, has been blasted on social media after the proposed change to Bitcoin’s code and the reactions were ferocious so let’s read more in today’s latest Ripple news.

Bitcoin supporters blasted Ripple’s Chris Larsen’s comments and proposal to change the BTC code. The co-founder of Ripple became quite popular over the day with a call for BTC to reduce its environmental impact. He teamed up with Greenpeace and the Sierra Club while launching a $5 million campaign called “Change The code, not the Climate” which will call attention to Bitcoin’s energy use.

Dear @bruneski @chrislarsensf @Greenpeace,

I am unable to find your Bitcoin Improvement Proposal submission, nor can I find any discussions initiated by you on the development mailing list.

Please follow the process if you wish to be taken seriously. https://t.co/pXJzYzq1Mj

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) March 29, 2022

The stated goal of the campaign is to persuade the group of people that maintain the BTC network to replace the energy-intensive mining process with a PoS system that requires much less electricity and is used by other blockchains. While Larsen is portraying his campaign as a feel-good moment, the reaction among many in the community has been savage. BTC supporters already became quite sensitive about their industry being signaled out or subject to misinformation and quickly denounced Larsen’s proposal including crypto expert Nick Carter who responded with a meme.

Chris Larsen – who in a just society would be in jail for the bad faith investor misrepresentations he and his team made regarding their XRP sales – is spending money attacking the industry that created his ill gotten multi-billion dollar fortune. Judas.

— Ryan Selkis 📖 🖊🔑 (@twobitidiot) March 29, 2022

In the meantime, Messari’s Ryan Selkis blasted Larsen’s campaign as insincere and suggested that the real motivation was to promote XRP as a currency. Selkis called Larsen a “Judas” for making billions on the crypto market but is now throwing Bitcoin under the bus. Jameson Lopp who is also quite popular in the BTC space questioned the sincerity of Larsens’ campaign and noted that it failed to submit a proposal to GitHub which people often use to suggest and implement changes to the BTC code.

In the meantime, the Coin Center’s Executive Director Jerry Brito noted that Larsen’s campaign was based on persuading 50 miners and developers to change the BTC Code which suggests that it is totally unrealistic. Eric Vorhees who is the founder of shapeshift suggested that Larsen’s call to change the code was doomed to fail. He also pointed out that those who will be essential in making the change won’t want a part of it.

as a Bitcoin Node Operator and member of the Bitcoin High Priesthood that Controls the Protocol, I have duly considered Ripple's and Greenpeace's request to eliminate PoW from Bitcoin, and I hereby… deny it. pic.twitter.com/6QYziI2QYW

— nic 'it's over' carter (@nic__carter) March 29, 2022

The opposition wasn’t universal, however. Anatoly Yakovenko as the co-founder of Solana responded to the objections of Muneeb Ali and noted that no blockchain requires mining like PoW to succeed. Yakovenko seemed to be a small minority especially as BTC Fans piled on with criticism of Larsen’s proposal and many even responded with memes to accuse Larsen of spreading FUD.