Ethereum Energy Revamp Is No Guarantee of Global Climate Gains
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Overall global energy savings may be curbed if computers previously used to secure the Ethereum blockchain are repurposed to mine other cryptocurrencies.
This year's revamp of the Ethereum blockchain to curb its power use by an estimated 99% was hailed as a seminal step toward making the cryptocurrency sector greener but a new analysis indicates the reality is a little more complicated. Overall power savings and climate gains are likely to be curbed if the electricity-hungry computers that previously helped to operate the network have been repurposed to mine other energy-intensive tokens, according to a paper published Tuesday in Cell Press journal Patterns by Alex De Vries, who runs the research platform Digiconomist. Most of the processing power “used to mine Ethereum co...