Bitcoin’s massive energy use faces $5M shame campaign from environmental groups

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Bitcoin has a voracious appetite for energy, a foundational characteristic of the cryptocurrency that some environmental groups say they are hoping to change.

A new pressure campaign, called Change the Code Not the Climate, launched Tuesday, and it’s seeking to encourage bitcoin luminaries like Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Abby Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments, to push for changes that would slash bitcoin’s energy use. 

The campaign is being organized by advocacy organizations Greenpeace and the Environmental Working Group. Chris Larsen, who cofounded Ripple Labs, a cryptocurrency and payments company, has pledged $5 million to fund the campaign, though his participation is reportedly not on behalf of the company.

Bitcoin’s profligate energy use—and the carbon pollution associated with it—are rooted in the cryptocurrency’s proof-of-work approach to validating transactions on its blockchain. Proof of work requires participants to crunch evermore challenging cryptographic proofs to perform the validations and earn bitcoin as a reward. As mining bitcoin has become harder, the network has drawn more energy—as much energy as entire countries. A recent esti

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