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Home / Blog / The 28 Most Sustainable Cryptocurrencies for 2022
THE 28 MOST SUSTAINABLE CRYPTOCURRENCIES FOR 2022
LeafScore is reader supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may
earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT
×
Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT
Sustainability Expert
Leigh Matthews is a sustainability expert and long time Vegan. Her work on solar
policy has been published in Canada's National Observer.
* Twitter
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Last updated on January 10, 2022
Table of Contents
1. How we compiled this list
2. As Bitcoin rises in value, the climate suffers
3. #1. SolarCoin (SLR)
1. How it works
4. #2. Powerledger (POWR)
1. How it works
5. #3. Cardano (ADA)
1. How it works
6. #4. Stellar (XLM)
1. How it works
7. #5. Nano (NANO)
1. How it works
8. #6. IOTA (MIOTA)
1. How it works
9. #7. EOSIO (EOS)
1. How it works
10. #8. TRON (TRX)
1. How it works
11. #9. Signum (SIGNA)
1. How it works
12. #10. Holochain/HoloTokens (HOT)
1. How it works
13. #11. DEVVIO
1. How it works
14. #12. Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)
1. How it works
15. #13. Chia (XCH)
1. How it works
16. #14. Algorand (ALGO)
1. How it works
17. #15. MetaHash (MHC)
1. How it works
18. #16. Harmony (ONE)
1. How it works
19. #17. Tezos (XTZ)
1. How it works
2. Who uses the Tezos platform?
20. #18. Flow (FLOW)
1. How it works
21. #19. Avalanche (AVAX)
22. #20. Gridcoin (GRC)
1. How it works
23. #21. Mina Protocol (MINA)
1. How it works
24. #22. ReddCoin (REDD)
1. How it works
25. #23. GoChain (GO)
1. How it works
26. #24. EFFORCE (WOZX)
1. How it works
27. #25. GreenTrust (GNT)
1. How it works
28. #26. Near Protocol (NEAR)
1. How it works
29. #27. MobileCoin (MOB)
1. How it works
30. #28. Electroneum (ETN)
1. How it works
31. Special mention – Ethereum (ETH)
32. (Not so) Final thoughts
There’s been a lot of attention on Bitcoin’s shocking environmental impact in
recent months, and while efforts are being made to minimize the carbon footprint
of the cryptocurrency, some investors are jumping ship in favor of greener
options. With more than 4,500 mineable coins and tokens in existence, which, if
any, are the most sustainable cryptocurrencies?
UPDATE: Following the immense interest in this topic and great leads on other
green cryptocurrencies, I’ve added even more tokens/networks below for our 2022
list. We’ve also written recently about the push for greater sustainability in
the NFT community.
Keep the suggestions coming, ideally with solid leads/info on why a token
deserves attention from investors who care about sustainability, and I’ll do my
best to take a look. Are you a Dogecoin fan? See why everyone’s favorite
canine-inspired cryptocurrency didn’t make this list here.
HOW WE COMPILED THIS LIST
Truth be told, it’s incredibly difficult to point to any one currency as being
‘greener’ than others. This is because there are so many parameters at play.
Many much smaller cryptocurrencies, for instance, naturally have a far lower
energy footprint because they involve far fewer daily transactions compared to
Bitcoin. Scale them up, however, and they may be just as bad, if not worse than
the cryptocurrency we currently love to hate.
That said, some cryptocurrencies are inherently more energy efficient than
Bitcoin. Why? Because Bitcoin relies on a ‘Proof of Work’ system that involves
huge amounts of calculations (and, thus, processing power) to produce a single
token. Cryptocurrencies that instead use a ‘Proof of Storage’ or ‘Proof of
Stake’ system use far less energy, as do currencies using a technology called
block lattice, which doesn’t require mining.
Even among ‘Proof of Work’ cryptocurrencies, however, some are more energy
intensive than others. This is primarily because these currencies use
ASIC-resistant algorithms that consume significantly more energy than should be
expected relative to how much of the cryptocurrency market they represent. A
good example of this is RavenCoin which, by one calculation, accounts for 4.32%
of the total rated power of the top 20 cryptocurrencies but has a market
capitalization of just 0.06%. Interestingly, Bitcoin uses an algorithm that does
allow for mining ASIC-based devices, and these devices are considerably more
energy efficient than conventional graphic processing units (GPUs).
AS BITCOIN RISES IN VALUE, THE CLIMATE SUFFERS
Market dynamics also play a big role in the energy consumption of
cryptocurrencies. In numerous cases, market slides or crashes that drop the
price of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other big players in this area lead to miners
slowing down or turning off their devices as it’s no longer profitable to run
the machines at that price.
In November 2018, for instance, the Digiconomist estimates that Ethereum’s
miners more than halved their energy consumption (from around 20 TWh to 10 TWh)
in under 20 days because the price tanked. As the price of Ethereum has once
again risen in 2021, so too has the energy consumption associated with the
cryptocurrency. As of March 31st, 2021, Digiconomist estimates Ethereum as using
more than 31 TWh annually, an all-time high.
So, which cryptocurrencies have a shot at being more sustainable than Bitcoin?
Here are a few of the main contenders, in no particular order, presented with
the caveat that this is absolutely not investment advice. At the time of
writing, I have no investments in or ties to these or any other
cryptocurrencies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#1. SOLARCOIN (SLR)
SolarCoin is global, decentralized, and independent of any government. You can
spend and trade SolarCoin just like other cryptocurrencies, but the key
difference is that the platform aims to incentivize real-world environmental
activity: verifiably produced solar energy.
HOW IT WORKS
SolarCoin has a novel approach to cryptocurrency, creating 1 Solarcoin for every
Megawatt hour generated from solar technology. Currently, this network mostly
relies on users uploading documentation to prove energy generation, but the
Internet of Things may one day streamline this process with automatic updates
from solar arrays.
Consider SolarCoin as a helpful way to more quickly offset the cost of
installing a solar array!
View SLR on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#2. POWERLEDGER (POWR)
POWR was an Ethereum token established in 2016/17 that powers the Powerledger
platform. It debuted on Coinbase in November 2021, with the token’s price rising
rapidly even while most cryptocurrencies fell in a market-wide crash.
POWR is required to participate in the Powerledger network and helps secure its
various products, including energy trading, clean energy tracking, and
verification.
As an aside, Powerledger is one of the few blockchains/cryptocurrencies I’ve
encountered that has a female co-founder. Doctor Jemma Green is the Executive
Chairman and co-founder and leads a team that includes several other women.
HOW IT WORKS
The Powerledger platform facilitates peer-to-peer energy trading and is
effectively an operating system that tracks the trading of energy, flexibility
services, and environmental commodities. More simply, renewable energy sources
like wind and solar are somewhat uncertain, with variable output minute to
minute, day to day. A centralized power grid is increasingly problematic when
energy inputs and outputs are inconsistent. Powerledger offers a distributed,
decentralized network that helps producers track, trace, and trade energy in
real-time, making for more stable, resilient energy grids.
As a real-life example, Powerledger partners with the Midwest Renewable Energy
Tracking System (M-RETS) to facilitate the trading of Renewable Energy
Certificates (RECs) across North America.
In June 2021, POWR switched from the Ethereum platform to being a customized
Solana-based blockchain. The rationale behind this move was to take advantage of
the Solana code base’s scalability (which just isn’t there for Ethereum yet).
Powerledger also integrated Safecoin’s voter subset consensus to reduce the
number of administrative type transactions that the blockchain has to handle,
keeping the platform secure and energy-efficient.
View POWR on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#3. CARDANO (ADA)
Cardano was developed by the co-founder of Ethereum, Charles Hoskinson, and was
tested by academics and scientists as the world’s first peer-reviewed
blockchain. It functions mainly as a digital currency but can also be used for
digital contracts, DApps, and other purposes. Compared to Bitcoin’s 7
transactions a second, Cardano can achieve 1000 per second.
HOW IT WORKS
Cardano is inherently more energy efficient than Bitcoin as it uses a ‘Proof of
Stake’ consensus mechanism where those participating in the currency buy tokens
to join the network. This helps save a staggering amount of energy, with the
founder of Cardano claiming that the cryptocurrency network consumes only 6 GWh
of power.
Cardano is similar in some ways to Ethereum, but without a lot of the bloat
associated with the latter token. This enables Cardano to scale up to meet
increased demands for the cryptocurrency, without compromising on speed or
efficiency.
View ADA on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#4. STELLAR (XLM)
The Stellar network was released in 2014 (forking off from Ripple) with the goal
of bridging the gap between traditional financial institutions and digital
currencies. Stellar doesn’t charge institutions or individuals for using the
network and is increasingly seen as a serious alternative to PayPal as it
enables faster, easier, and more cost-effective cross-asset and cross-border
transactions.
Stellar is operated by the Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit
organization. It got its start with funding from Stripe (the payments startup),
along with donations from BlackRock, Google, and FastForward. Tax-deductible
public donations fund the network’s operating costs and the hard market cap for
Lumens and removal of an inflation standard demonstrates that the SDF is looking
to maintain a network that enables easy, accessible, low-cost cross-border
payments rather than to make a quick buck with massive gains in the price of
Lumen.
The network has also attracted serious engagement from IBM and Deloitte, as well
as banking institutions in Nigeria, the Philippines, India, France, the South
Pacific, and most recently the Ukraine. This brings to life the SDF’s vision to
“unlock the world’s economic potential by making money more fluid, markets more
open, and people more empowered.” Stellar was the first distributed technology
ledger to receive certification as Shariah compliant.
HOW IT WORKS
Through the Stellar network, you can exchange US Dollars, Bitcoin, Pesos, Yen,
and pretty much any currency traditional or crypto. The network’s token, Lumens,
are used to facilitate these trades on the blockchain-based distributed ledger
at a fraction of a cent and with great efficiency (which also translates to a
lower carbon footprint). The network also allows individuals and institutions to
create tokens for use on the network, which has inspired some to use the network
for sustainability initiatives such as investing in renewable energy.
The key distinguishing feature of the Stellar network is its consensus protocol.
This SCP is open-source and relies on authentication of transactions occurring
through a set of trustworthy nodes rather than running through the whole network
as a proof-of-work or even proof-of-stake algorithm. The cycle for
authentication is thus much shorter and faster, keeping costs low and energy use
to a minimum. The algorithm behind this is known as a federated byzantine
agreement and is an energy-efficient alternative to the Bitcoin style
traditional mining network.
Stellar’s token, Lumens (XLM), can be bought and sold on most exchanges,
including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex, Bitfinex, Upbit and Huobi.
View XLM on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#5. NANO (NANO)
Nano is free, fast, and uses considerably less energy than Bitcoin and many
other cryptocurrencies. It has been around since the end of 2015 and has a
relatively small carbon footprint even now. It is also scalable and lightweight
as it doesn’t rely on mining.
HOW IT WORKS
Nano uses block lattice technology, which is energy efficient. It is still
reliant on a Proof of Work mechanism, but the block lattice goes beyond
blockchain to create an account-chain for each user on the network. The Nano
platform uses a system called Open Representative Voting (ORV), where account
holders vote for their chosen representative, who then work to securely confirm
blocks of transactions.
On the Nano platform, user accounts can be updated asynchronously, rather than
needing to involve an entire linear blockchain as is the case with Bitcoin and
others. Instead of competition and delays, then, Nano involves just the sender
and receiver account-chains and can handle as many as 125 transactions per
second.
View NANO on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#6. IOTA (MIOTA)
As a cryptocurrency, IOTA has not proven as volatile in terms of price as many
other tokens. While good news for those looking for more stability in the market
and greater financial sustaianability, this has proven disappointing for those
investors looking for the same pay-off as with early investments in Bitcoin,
Ethereum, or other altcoins.
HOW IT WORKS
In terms of energy sustainability, because IOTA uses Fast Probabilistic
Consensus for consensus and only relies on Proof of Work in part, the overall
energy consumption of the network is very small. The best figures available for
IOTA’s energy consumption come from a PhD student called Amir Abbaszadeh Sori.
Writing before the algorithm update, Abbaszadeh Sori calculated the average ECPT
(energy consumption per transaction) for IOTA and found that each transaction
used just 0.11 Watt hours.
This is very low, even compared to more established financial networks such as
VISA and Mastercard. And, like many cryptocurrencies, IOTA blows Bitcoin out of
the water in terms of energy use. With the new updates set to make Atomic
Transactions the norm for IOTA, this could reduce the transaction size
from 1.7kb to less than 100 bytes, presumably reducing the energy consumption
accordingly.
Indeed, IOTA released figures in May 2021 outlining a possible 33-95% reduction
in energy consumption associated with the Chrysalis upgrade, reducing the energy
requirement to just over a millionth of a kWh per transaction.
To calculate the ECPT under the current algorithm though, Abbaszadeh Sori used
three smartphones with different processors and versions of Android (but no
iPhones) and sent an iota token 25 times with each device. The measure of energy
used included approval of the transaction, complete proof of work, preparing
inputs and outputs, validating the receive address, synching the account, and
final validation.
While the results were very clearly in favor of IOTA as a much more eco-friendly
cryptocurrency, Abbaszadeh Sori himself acknowledges some limits to his study.
For instance, there’s no accounting for IOTA nodes and IOTA Coordinator energy
consumption. And now we have an updated IOTA 1.5, which no longer has the
Coordinator Node, these calculations are less relevant.
That said, if we take the above figure for EPCT and multiply it by the 1000-1500
transactions per second that the current IOTA system is said to be able to
handle, this amounts to annual energy consumption for IOTA of:
1000-1500 TPS = 31536000000-47304000000 transactions per year
0.11 wH per transaction = 3.47-5.2 Gigawatt hours per year
At the low end, this amounts to around the equivalent of 2,459 metric tons of
greenhouse gas emissions annually. That’s 535 passenger vehicles on the road for
a year, or the energy used by 296 homes for a year. At the higher end, with 1500
TPS, the numbers rise to 3,687 metric tons of GHG CO2-eq. That’s 802 cars on the
road for a year, and 444 houses powered.
View IOTA on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#7. EOSIO (EOS)
EOSIO is a public blockchain beloved by developers because it is simple to set
up and write applications in several programming languages, is highly scalable,
and costs nothing.
HOW IT WORKS
EOSIO is another ‘Proof of Stake’ platform that uses pre-mined EOS tokens that
can be traded on standard cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance,
and Kraken.
View EOS on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#8. TRON (TRX)
Based in Singapore, TRON is a non-profit organization and public blockchain
supporting almost every programming language. The peer-to-peer platform allows
creators to share applications directly on the blockchain, making the whole
process more energy efficient.
HOW IT WORKS
TRON operates using decentralized governance based on a two-tier model of Super
Representatives (SR) and Super Representative Partners, with every account able
to become an SR and able to vote for SRs.
The TRON currency, Tronix, is pre-mined and can be traded on Binance and other
exchanges, with big plans afoot for TRON’s future, including using it to create
decentralized gaming platforms.
In October 2021, Tron announced its development of a $300 million fund called
JustPlay (in partnership with APENFT and WINKLink) to invest in GameFi projects.
Tron lends itself to decentralized gaming and this latest project leverages
interest in play-to-earn apps on the Tron network.
View TRX on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#9. SIGNUM (SIGNA)
In June 2021, Burstcoin officially changed its name to Signum, under the symbol
SIGNA. The original Burstcoin is now essentially void due to a hard fork
following a significant price decline after the crypto was delisted from
Poloniex in May 2019.
Burstcoin was possibly the first blockchain to use Turing-complete smart
contracts which allow for the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and use in
on-chain games. As Signum, it likely remains one of the most environmentally
friendly, sustainable cryptocurrencies as it has been using ‘Proof of Capacity’
rather than ‘Proof of Work’ since 2014 and recently updated to ‘Proof of
Commitment’, along with the introduction of Smart Tokens.
HOW IT WORKS
With Signum, ‘miners’ are rewarded for using storage space for ‘mining’. Meaning
that a computer with a 1 terabyte hard drive barely uses more energy to mine
SIGNA than an idling computer. This makes it far more efficient than ASIC mining
or GPU mining on a ‘Proof of Work’ algorithm. It also makes it more equitable
as you don’t need high-powered tech to mine SIGNA; you can even mine it using
old mobile phones!
In 2021, Signum introduced Proof of Commitment (PoC+) decentralized consensus as
the evolution of the Proof of Capacity (PoC) consensus. Miners can easily
increase their effective storage capacity by committing a SIGNA balance (stake)
in their account. This helps secure the network and improves the miner’s chance
of earning mining rewards. PoC+ is arguably more sustainable as it increases
effective capacity without the need for more hardware.
In October 2021, Signum introduced Smart Tokens. The idea here is a blockchain
where tokens exist outside of smart contracts. These tokens thereby avoid the
constraints of smart contracts and don’t need to be imported into your wallet.
They are “unique entities that can be transferred or traded directly between
accounts”.
The network is driven by volunteers and in 2021 founded Signum- Network Alliance
(SNA), a not-for-profit organization to help Signum fulfill its vision of
sustainability and innovation in blockchain technology.
You can trade SIGNA on Bittrex, STEX, and other cryptocurrency exchanges.
View SIGNA on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#10. HOLOCHAIN/HOLOTOKENS (HOT)
2021 was a big year for Holo. The crypto token price rose to nearly 53 times
that of the 2018 ICO price (in USD terms, as of December 2021) and the company
gave its Elemental Chat platform a test run, with a public release expected
shortly.
In September 2021, Holo released a “Sharding Ready” version of Holochain,
followed by two additional releases to enhance usability by community developers
and the Holo team.
The ICO revolved around a pre-sale of cloud-hosting services as transferable
ERC20 tokens called HOT on the Ethereum public blockchain. Again, this makes
Holo different to other cryptocurrencies in that it is backed by a tangible
asset (cloud-hosting services). Holo charges a fee on transactions using the P2P
network, meaning that revenue is tied directly to the number of apps and hosts
on the network.
HOW IT WORKS
Holochain is an open-source framework for peer-to-peer applications and its
token HoloTokens (HOT) requires no mining. This means that you don’t need any
specialized processors, nor is there excessive energy use involved in generating
this cryptocurrency. Anyone who hosts hApps on their computer or device can
receive HOT in return.
Holochain is immediate and efficient, does not rely on proof-of-work or
proof-of-stake, but still enables scalable crypto-accounting. Each user provides
a small amount of computing and storage, allowing P2P web applications to
function, in theory, at a massive scale without need for centralized data
centers or infrastructure. This depends largely on how many users sign up,
however.
The cool thing about Holochain is that it can operate through a regular browser,
without Holo Hosts needing to install any software. This makes it much more
accessible to new, curious, and perhaps hesitant users. Holochain provides a
bridge from the decentralized, P2P developer world to existing payment systems.
Because Holochain is a ‘pragmatic compromise,’ as noted by the company itself,
some parts of this network are centralized. This makes it rather unique among
cryptocurrency projects which typically aim to be entirely decentralized and
rely fully on blockchain technology. In essence, Holo acts as a bridge between a
fully decentralized network and traditional, familiar internet browsers, helping
to expand the ecosystem and marketplace for DApps.
View HOT on Coinbase
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#11. DEVVIO
DEVVIO’s initial community offering was set to occur in June 2021, but there’s
still no sign of this happening as of December 2021. Details remain scarce, so
while this has the potential to be a good ‘green’ cryptocurrency, I’m
increasingly wary that it’s going nowhere, especially as the team doesn’t seem
to have many actual developers on staff.
The Devvio platform does appear to have gained some attention for its work in
the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) space, however. So, while this may
not be a crypto that’s going to skyrocket in value if an ICO ever happens,
Devvio may be worth looking at for companies that need help with their ESG
program.
According to DEVVIO founders, the DEVVIO network uses one millionth of the
energy usage of Bitcoin and generates far less in terms of greenhouse gases. It
was designed specifically to reduce energy expenditure and be a ‘greener’
cryptocurrency. This is clear from the founders’ commitment to creating DEVVIO
as a blockchain ecosystem that can support multiparty collaboration and trust
across stakeholders working in the field of environment and sustainability.
The DEVVIO system can be used to authenticate green certifications, enable
markets for carbon credits, and facilitate financing for sustainability
projects. And it does this without creating inefficiencies and massive energy
requirements as projects scale ever upward. This isn’t a proof-of-work
blockchain like Bitcoin. Instead, individual nodes talk to each other, creating
an energy efficient system. It is also time efficient in that a web developer
can quickly hook into DEVVIO’s blockchain.
DEVVIO’s current partners include Avnet and Panduit, which help companies
embrace carbon neutrality in part by connecting big corporations to companies
generating carbon credits through specific actions such as tree-planting,
installing solar power infrastructure, and so forth.
HOW IT WORKS
DEVVIO is a distributed accounting protocol based on sharding, layer 2
protocols, and an efficient consensus mechanism. It can currently execute up to
8 million transactions per second (TPS). Each shard represents a blockchain
ledger and thousands of these shards can be added to eventually enable tens of
millions of TPS. This is an example of horizontal scaling, meaning that because
each shard is independent, every transactions doesn’t have to go through the
entire network to be authenticated; it just has to go through one independent
blockchain.
To create the necessary complexity for security, DEVVIO has transactions move
between shards, but each wallet is only assigned one shard. Payment happens on
one shard (as part of Tier 1) and settlement on another (the Tier 2 network).
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#12. HEDERA HASHGRAPH (HBAR)
Hedera Hashgraph passed the number of Ethereum (ETH) transactions on May 6th,
2021, making it one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency networks. In theory,
Hedera Hashgraph could process more than 100,000 TPS, which would allow it to
easily rival Visa and other mainstream payment systems. Thankfully, this
cryptocurrency (HBAR) is a proof-of-stake token, meaning it uses far less energy
than proof-of-work tokens like Bitcoin.
HBAR has a current supply of around 8 billion hbars and a fixed supply of 50
billion hbars. It is a decentralized public network used for in-app payments,
micropayments, and transaction fees, as well as for network protection.
Developers can use Hedera to build secure applications with near real-time
consensus. This is because instead of being a block ‘chain’, Hedera is more of a
graph. In fact, it’s based on technology called a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)
which means that the speed of transaction verifications increases as more
transactions are added to the network.
The list of owners and the governing council of Hedera is impressive, including
Avery Dennison, Boeing, Deutsche Telekom, DLA Piper, FIS (WorldPay), Google,
IBM, LG Electronics, Magalu, Nomura, Swirlds, Tata Communications, University
College London (UCL), Wipro, and Zain Group.
Hedera Hashgraph consists of four main services, including HBAR, the
cryptocurrency that allows for low-fee, highly customizable transactions. The
other services include smart contracts, file service, and consensus service.
HOW IT WORKS
Hedera Hashgraph works through a system called asynchronous byzantine fault
tolerance (aBFT). This allows for high-level security even if there are
malicious actors on the network. It is faster than Bitcoin or Ethereum because
transactions are processed in parallel, rather than having to go through the
whole blockchain in a serial manner.
The network reaches consensus through ‘gossip,’ with nodes on the Hashgraph
talking to each other and comparing notes on the network’s transactions, instead
of mining. Select transactions are deemed ‘famous’ by the nodes because they are
communicated early in the gossip process and are then verified by multiple nodes
across the network.
Hedera Hashgraph plans for more upgrades to the network in the second half of
2021, including introducing sharding. This will split the network into multiple
shards to enable an increase in transactions.
One of the cool things about Hedera Hashgraph is that it is already being used
to facilitate sustainability projects. This includes through Power Transition, a
software system backed by Hedera Hashgraph. This highly scalable digital energy
platform allows people and companies to control energy use from micro grids to
national grids. It can help to reduce costs and make the move to a zero-carbon
economy by dramatically improving communication between players in networks of
any size, making for greater energy efficiency.
Power Transition estimates that the Hedera Hashgraph platform is 250,000 times
more energy efficient than Bitcoin, using just 0.001 kilowatt hours per
transaction, compared to 250 kWh for Bitcoin (Digiconomist puts it at 950 kWh),
55 kWh for Ethereum, and 0.003 for Visa.
View HBAR on Coinbase
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#13. CHIA (XCH)
Chia is another interesting cryptocurrency in that it can be mined on Amazon Web
Services cloud computing platform. Setting this up takes just a few minutes,
with chia ‘farming’ simple and straightforward compared to ‘mining’ of many
other currencies.
Unlike many cryptocurrencies, Chia was created by a familiar name: Bram Cohen,
the founder of BitTorrent. When the platform was launched, it reportedly led to
a shortage of hard drives in China as people scrambled to acquire more storage
space on which to farm XCH.
HOW IT WORKS
The Chia Network is a blockchain and smart transaction platform that allows
users to take advantage of available hard drive space to run the decentralized
network. Instead of proof-of-work, the Chia Network relies on
proof-of-space-time. So, storing a certain amount of data over a certain amount
of time can earn you XCH, Chia’s token. XCH was created in 2017 in response to
the excessive energy use involved in mining crypto.
Chia farming was designed to be accessible, with no specialized equipment
needed, nor massive amounts of power. The network’s blockchain transaction
platform is called Mainnet and can be downloaded at chia.net. After downloading
the software, you can choose to dedicate a portion of your uncommitted hard
drive space to the network and this will then tick along nicely while your
computer is running, without significantly affecting your machine’s performance
or requiring vastly more energy.
View XCH on Coinbase
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#14. ALGORAND (ALGO)
Algorand is a proof-of-stake blockchain that gets its value because it supports
smart contracts. The influence of each user on the network is proportional to
their stake in the system, and Algorand’s blockchain is scalable and secure, as
well as free from forks and other potential governance issues.
Released in late 2019, Algorand is also relatively new to the crypto scene but
was able to manage almost one million transactions per day by December 2020. One
of the founders of Algorand, Silvio Micali, is a profession of computer science
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a recipient of the Turing Award
in 2012, in part for his contributions to cryptocurrencies and blockchain
protocols, all of which inspires quite a bit of confidence when compared to
other newer crytpos.
The speed of transactions on the Algorand platform and its low transaction fees,
in addition to being a permissionless pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol,
all mean that the network is more accessible, scalable, and uses far less energy
than Bitcoin and its ilk.
HOW IT WORKS
The pure proof-of-stake approach of Algorand means that all validating nodes are
known to each other and have to agree to create a new block each time.
Algorand does not involve mining, and the network is trying to lead the way in
blockchain sustainability by creating a carbon-negative network. It was designed
to be energy efficient from the get-go and has committed to offsetting any
emission gaps to reduce its environmental impact further. Micali himself has
said, “I care about the planet” and that the proof-of-stake algorithm “drives
electricity consumption to almost zero.”
On April 22, 2021, Algorand announced that its blockchain is fully carbon
neutral, thanks in part to its partnership with ClimateTrade. This organization
is a leader in carbon emissions transparency and traceability and the
partnership with Algorand allows CimateTrade to enhance its sustainability
efforts with corporations worldwide.
The Algorand Foundation is a not-for-profit organization behind this
development. The Foundation also envisions bringing on board a whole community
of blockchain and mainstream developers including those wanting to use the
platform to support sustainable endeavors.
Algorand and ClimateTrade plan to implement a system whereby Algorand’s carbon
footprint on-chain for a specific number of blocks will be notarized, allowing
the equivalent amount of carbon credit to be calculated. This Algorand Standard
Asset (ASA) will then be locked into a green treasury and the protocol will
continue running as carbon-negative by carefully tracing and offsetting these
amounts.
The Algorand blockchain currently has 10 billion ALGO, with distribution
continuing to roll out up until 2030. ALGO is currently able to be bought and
sold on Coinbase, Binance, OKEx, Kraken, and Huobi.
View ALGO on Coinbase
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#15. METAHASH (MHC)
MetaHash offers a fast, efficient decentralized network with zero fees and the
ability to mine/forge MHC using fairly low-key hardware. MHC is just one of four
parts of the MetaHash project, the others being TraceChain, MetaApps, and
MetaGate. TraceChain is an algorithm for routing traffic over the network.
MetaApps allows users to write stand-alone decentralized applications using C++,
PHP, and Solidity, among other programming languages. MetaGate is an open source
user interface for third-party developers.
HOW IT WORKS
Metahash is another proof-of-stake protocol that is far more efficient than its
pure proof-of-work counterparts. It originally operated using a delegated PoS
mechanism but has transitioned to a multiple PoS mechanism to address issues
that compromised decentralization of the network. In this system, “multi-layered
validation provides the basis for protecting a network against corruption. In
cases when the central
network entities, which generate blocks, appear to be corrupted, the rest of the
network may vote to rebuild the network and to re-distribute the roles, thus,
neutralizing the threat.” This model also allows validation and block
distribution to run in parallel, decreasing consensus time and improving
efficiency.
View MHC on Coinbase
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#16. HARMONY (ONE)
Harmony is an Ethereum based, cross-chain application platform with a
cryptocurrency (ONE) launched in June 2019. Harmony primarily creates a bridge
between creators and consumers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Its main benefits
are using an energy efficient proof-of-stake algorithm, very fast transaction
times (with contracts finalized every two seconds), and impressive scaling
capabilities.
In September 2021, Harmony announced a $300 million ecosystem development fund
intended to encourage more crypto founders, builders and creatives to develop
the Harmony ecosystem of apps and NFTs.
HOW IT WORKS
The Harmony platform uses sharding and FBFT consensus algorithms to increase
speed and security and reduce the amount of energy required per transaction.
This makes Harmony a fairly green cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Harmony works across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, and the Binance Smart Chain
and is focused on improving scalability across these networks.
View ONE on Coinbase
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#17. TEZOS (XTZ)
Launched in 2018, Tezos was one of the original Proof of Stake (PoS) smart
contract layer one blockchains. It was also one of the largest initial coin
offerings every held, worth $232 million at the time (July 2017). Most (80%) of
this initial supply went to investors, with 10% each going to the Tezos
Foundation and Dynamic Ledger Solutions. The launch of the Tezos mainnet was
delayed by a series of lawsuits from unhappy investors who argued that tez was,
in essence, an unregistered security.
Tezos is an energy efficient Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain that is
self-upgradable, scalable, and secure. It is an impressive piece of crypto tech,
with a reputation for transparency and innovation. The Tezos blockchain operates
using the cryptocurrency tez (not capitalized) and has the ticker symbol XTZ.
Tezos was developed by Arthur Breitman, who published a white paper in 2014
proposing the blockchain. It took four years to launch the mainnet, with the
intention from the outset being to create a network that actively invited
contributions from the developer community.
HOW IT WORKS
Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other blockchains, Tezos has an on-chain
governance mechanism that allows the network to continuously improve without the
need for a hard fork. This system means participants in the network can propose,
vote upon, adopt, and deploy improvements efficiently.
The result is a leading edge blockchain network that can quickly innovate. The
algorithm enables transactions to be processed quickly, cheaply, and at a
fraction of the energy used by Proof of Work networks like Bitcoin.
Tezos is a collaborative network that operates without an official core team, or
employees. It is an open-source software project, and anyone can contribute code
to make the blockchain better. The decentralized project has various entities
worldwide helping to support the platform’s growth.
The self-amendment capacity of Tezos avoids the issues with forking that have
hounded other blockchains, such as Ethereum. Instead of needing to fork or split
into two different blockchains when carrying out major upgrades, Tezos can amend
itself without disruption to the network and without creating massive division
in the community.
Another advantage to self-amendment is that the process of upgrading is more
easily coordinated and executed at a lower cost. Further amendments are also
easier to implement as there remains just one blockchain, not two or more that
also require upgrades.
Anyone who stakes 8,000 tez is known as a Baker and can vote on proposed
amendments and upgrades put forward by Tezos developers. The four-step procedure
takes around 23 days, and proposals that receive majority support are then
tested on a testnet for 48 hours. Those that gain support from a super majority
are then fully implemented on the mainnet. Because of the minimum investment of
8,000 tez, there’s a financial incentive to contribute to the success of the
network.
Using programming languages 0Caml and Michelson, which facilitate formal
verification, Tezos is a super secure blockchain that can be used safely in the
aerospace, nuclear, and semiconductor industries. All of this makes Tezos very
attractive to a variety of users.
WHO USES THE TEZOS PLATFORM?
Tezos allows users to build powerful decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, other
tools, games, and NFTs on its network. Current users include Red Bull Racing
Honda and McLaren Racing, as well as OneOf, an eco-friendly music-focused NFT
platform with artists such as Doja Cat, Quincy Jones, and John Legend.
The French banking giant Societe Generale also signed on to use Tezos for a
central bank digital currency.
You can buy tez on most major coin exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase.
View XTZ on Coinbase
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#18. FLOW (FLOW)
Flow is both a PoS blockchain that is fast, decentralized, and highly usable and
the cryptocurrency native to the Flow network. It is designed for building
games, apps, NFTs and other internet-scale protocols and applications that need
low-latency (i.e., very fast processing times) and high-throughput (i.e., a lot
of transaction happening very rapidly across millions of users).
Flow is a developer’s dream as the platform offers a ton of white papers that
provide a complete specification of the system.
HOW IT WORKS
Flow is the brainchild of the team behind CryptoKitties and offers the unique
approach of separating mining or validating roles into four distinct processes.
This makes things both more efficient and more accessible: anyone with a
reliable internet connection can participate as a Flow validator, thanks to a
new encoding technique called Specialized Proofs of Confidential Knowledge
(SPoCKs) which addresses the Verifier’s Dilemma.
In most blockchains, a single miner or validator performs all or most of the
tasks of validation. This slows things down and means some of the work is
carried out by multiple parties unnecessarily. With Flow, the pipelined
architecture reduces this redundancy and improves efficiency and security by
separating out the tasks. Even those with a small amount of computer power
available can participate by performing some of the less energy intensive parts
of a transaction.
The four validation roles comprise Collection, Execution, Verification, and
Consensus, with no sharding needed. On Flow, smart contracts and user accounts
can interact in one atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID)
transaction, meaning things flow efficiently and developers can build seamlessly
on each other’s code. With Flow, every application on the network can also
function as a platform on which to build.
View FLOW on Coinbase
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#19. AVALANCHE (AVAX)
Avalanche is a smart contract platform that uses a PoS algorithm and the native
token AVAX, which is deliberately restricted to 720 million AVAX coins in
circulation. It has an architecture that allows for custom private or public
blockchains to be deployed as subnets, and these subnets can facilitate around
4,500 transactions per second, at a lower cost than networks such as Ethereum.
Avalanche is compatible with Ethereum’s programming language (Solidity) and is
scalable and decentralized, secure and energy efficient. For these reasons, it
is popular with developers building DeFi projects, NFTs, games, and more. The
Avalanche network consists of three component blockchains: the Platform Chain
(P-Chain) which coordinates validators and the creation of subnets; the C-Chain
for smart contract creation; and the X-Chain for managing and exchanging assets.
Participants in Avalanche stake AVAX on the P-Chain to become general network
validators. A stake can also be delegated to another validator, allowing them to
earn a portion of the validator reward. It is also possible to specify
validation of a particular subnet blockchain.
View AVAX on Coinbase
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#20. GRIDCOIN (GRC)
Gridcoin is an efficient decentralized blockchain that uses idle computational
power to carry out scientific research through the Berkeley Open Infrastructure
for Network Computing (BOINC). The platform was launched in 2013 and uses a
Proof-of-Stake algorithm. Participants in the network are rewarded with coins
using a Proof of Research algorithm through BOINC.
The open source platform uses the native coin GRC and current projects include
protein folding through Rosetta@Home, mapping the Milky Way galaxy
(Milkyway@home), and figuring out solutions to public health and clean energy
problems (World Community Grid). Unlike other scientific cryptocurrencies,
Gridcoin can support a wide variety of different projects, limited only by what
users of BOINC broadcast.
HOW IT WORKS
As a decentralized network, Gridcoin performs transactions peer-to-peer
cryptographically, meaning there’s no need for a central authority to disburse
rewards. The original Gridcoin (Classic) used a hybrid PoW algorithm, allowing
participants to hash half the time and donate half time to science. The
Gridcoin-Research algorithm made the PoW component obsolete as this PoS
algorithm allows nearly all the computational power go to science while a tiny
amount maintains and secures the blockchain.
Researchers can create their own projects on BOINC for free, and Gridcoin
rewards people for granting access to unused computer power otherwise
unavailable to these researchers. BOINC has been running since 2003 and is a
well-regarded and secure system.
View GRC on Coinbase
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#21. MINA PROTOCOL (MINA)
Mina is touted as the world’s lightest blockchain at just 22 kb. It is powered
by participants, who quickly synchronize and verify the network. This makes it
arguably more sustainable and egalitarian than many other blockchains which
require intermediaries with heavy computational power to run nodes.
Mina Protocol was founded in 2017 by Evan Shapiro and Izaak Meckler but took
four years to build and test before its launch in March 2021. In April 2021, the
Mina Foundation held a community token sale that raised $18.75 million for the
project. This money will be used to maintain the network’s assets and
distributed by the foundation as grants for community developers.
The MINA token powers the network, with users rewarded for creating blocks and
validating transactions. The initial coin offering was one billion MINA tokens,
with more added over time and inflation managed through Mina Protocol
governance.
HOW IT WORKS
Mina is decentralized and so lightweight that it allows every participant to act
as a full node in the PoS consensus. Transactions are computed off-chain and
verified on-chain, using a much smaller proof than most other blockchains. The
small proof represents the state of the whole chain, rather than the latest
block.
Because Mina is built on a consistent-sized cryptographic proof, the blockchain
remains accessible even as it scales to process billions of transactions. In
contrast, the Ethereum blockchain went from just over 5 GB in 2016 to 220 GB in
2021, meaning that the network requires validator nodes to have a huge amount of
memory and processing power.
To send and receive transactions on Mina, every participant has to run a node.
The algorithm also requires block producers and snark workers to run
effectively. Snark workers help compress network data and generate proofs of
transactions. Block producers then bid on these proofs and select the
transaction to include in the next block (a bit like conventional validators or
miners).
MINA helps to secure the network and can be used to interact with ‘Snapps”, or
decentralized zk-SNARK powered applications built on the Mina Protocol. Invented
by MIT professor and Algorand founder Silvio Micali, zk-SNARKs stands for
“zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge. These apps
validate and share proofs of data without sharing the data itself – an
attractive system for decentralized finance.
One of the first Snapps, Teller, is a handy app that helps users keep their
information private while proving their credit score to traditional financial
services in order to access loans. Such apps are also easily scalable while
remaining efficient and cost-effective.
View MINA on Coinbase
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#22. REDDCOIN (REDD)
ReddCoin is a standout alt coin designed for use on social media as a digital
social currency for tipping or rewarding individuals, charities, or other
organizations without requiring an intermediary. ReddCoin uses a PoS velocity
(PoSV) algorithm, and the full amount of every tip goes to the recipient, unlike
with platforms such as Patreon, GoFundMe, JustGiving and others where the
intermediary takes a cut to fund the system.
ReddCoin has itself received donations and is now self-funded and volunteer-run.
Established in 2014, ReddCoin is a longstanding cryptocurrency that has seen
many improvements, including to its PoS algorithm. There are more than 60,000
users of Redd in more than 50 countries, owing to its ease of use across major
social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram.
HOW IT WORKS
ReddCoin uses a Proof-of-Stake Velocity (PoSV) algorithm to validate blocks.
This process is called ‘minting’ instead of ‘mining’ on ReddCoin and uses both
ownership and activity to delineate value. This algorithm requires much less
computing power compared to mining and enables fairly fast transactions (just 60
seconds on average) at low or no cost.
Because ReddCoin’s algorithm is streamlined, transactions can be done on
cellphones and other small devices. In fact, everyone who holds ReddCoin is
automatically a minter, with a higher stake meaning a greater chance of finding
blocks and being rewarded with more ReddCoin.
ReddCoin scales easily and can trade higher volumes as demand increases. And the
simplicity of ReddCoin means that even those who don’t understand
cryptocurrencies’ underlying technology can still use it easily. Indeed,
ReddCoin is about to launch the ReddMobile app which will make social tipping
even more straightforward. The app will allow users to tip others with ease and
to store, send, and receive ReddCoin on their phones. Existing ReddWallets and
ReddIDs can be imported to the new app and the wallet is used to stake ReddCoin
with up to 25% annual returns possible.
View REDD on Coinbase
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#23. GOCHAIN (GO)
GoChain was founded in 2017 by a team with experience in cloud computing. The
idea was to build a network that was scalable without being energy intensive. It
processes transaction in 3-5 seconds, can handle 1300 transactions per second,
and has an average fee of $0.01 at the time of writing. GO is the native token
on the network and is required for every transaction sent to the GoChain.
The initial coin offering occurred in 2018 and raised a hard cap of around $13.7
million. GO is an Ethereum based ERC-20 token and can be used to access all
GoChain services. There are currently nearly 500 million tokens in circulation
and plans for another billion to be added gradually.
HOW IT WORKS
GoChain is a smart contract platform and can be used for transferring tokens and
storing files. It is compatible with Ethereum but has a fraction of the carbon
footprint, so developers wanting to cut their environmental impact could easily
switch chains without requiring code rewrites.
GoChain uses a Proof-of-Reputation consensus mechanism. This is similar to a
Proof-of-Authority model, which GoChain still uses for nodes with a very high
reputation. The difference is that the GoChain algorithm accounts for all
participants’ reputations in ensuring a secure network. To engage in the
blockchain, a user has to have a reputation, meaning that anyone trying to cheat
the system is quickly prevented from further activity.
View GO on Coinbase
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#24. EFFORCE (WOZX)
EFFORCE is the brainchild of Apple founder Steve Wozniak (hence the ticker
symbol). The entire purpose of this unique blockchain is to help crypto
investors make money while contributing to environmentally sound energy
efficiency initiatives.
Typically, the energy efficiency industry is a complex multiparty financial
system that is hard to navigate, especially for the average investor. EFFORCE
makes investing in energy efficiency projects simple and accessible, which has
the potential to dramatically increase overall investment in the sector and a
more sustainable future.
Wozniak first dreamt up EFFORCE in 2017, along with co-founders with experience
in energy efficiency projects. A presale and roadshow took place in 2019 and the
platform development was finalized in 2020 for factories and real estate
projects and then listed on HBTC. In the first quarter of 2021, EFFORCE
completed its first efficiency project and began Energy Efficiency Sharing.
The WOZX token was listed for trade on BitEx in April 2021 at the same time that
the software platform was opened to the public. A capped number – 100 million –
of WOZX were created at launch, with 45% of the tokens allocated privately,
including 20% to EFFORCE itself, 20% towards mining incentives, and 15% for
ecosystem and consulting activities.
Mining occurs once a successful project launches on EFFORCE. Any token rewards
are then issued on a sliding scale over a ten-year period. This helps to protect
liquidity of the asset and the value of the token over time.
HOW IT WORKS
EFFORCE allows you (or your company) to offset your future energy bills by
investing in energy efficiency projects now. The EFFORCE algorithm then uses
smart contracts (called Energy Performance Contracts, or EPCs) to redistribute
resulting savings to token holders and initial investors. The redistribution of
these rewards is based on exact energy consumption and savings data without the
need for any intermediary to assess or estimate savings.
The beauty of EFFORCE is that it commodifies energy savings by creating a new
tradable asset class, which has the effect of helping to scale up energy
efficiency investments for the benefit of all of us. Energy efficiency has,
according to EFFORCE, twice the potential of renewable energy investments in
this early phase.
EFFORCE also makes investing in energy efficiency projects more democratic and
financially accessible. Where the sector has typically been limited to major
investors and large contributions from just a handful of parties, EFFORCE allows
anyone to invest at any amount. EFFORCE also solves the problem of putting
contributors and savers in contact.
The platform also acts in a consultancy role, guiding projects through
development and funding. At least 1% of total energy savings from all of the
projects will be distributed to all EFFORCE token holders. This may be adjusted
through the platform’s governance mechanism, with token holders having voting
rights.
View WOZX on Coinbase
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#25. GREENTRUST (GNT)
GreenTrust is a sustainable decentralized blockchain with a carbon neutral
network and the aim to help the world become carbon neutral by 2050.
The network runs on the GNT token which can be exchanged for carbon offset
certificates. The general idea is to use the blockchain to better measure,
reduce, and offset everybody’s carbon footprint. For every 350 transactions on
the network, GreenTrust plants a tree.
HOW IT WORKS
GreenTrust is powered by Binance Smart Chain and uses a consensus mechanism
Proof-of-Stake Authority (PoSA) which is energy efficient, fast, and low-cost.
The network’s smart contract was audited in June 2021 by Techrate and the
GreenTrust project is building partnerships with likeminded organizations also
aiming to decarbonize the global economy.
GreenTrust’s transaction fees help fund tree planting and will be used to
develop renewable energy projects. There is a total supply of 126 trillion
GreenTrust tokens, of which just under 25% are currently in circulation.
GNT is available on Binance, PancakeSwap, and ApeSwap, as well as several other
exchanges.
View GNT on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#26. NEAR PROTOCOL (NEAR)
Near Protocol is a certified carbon neutral blockchain that hosts various apps,
NFTs, games, and more. It even includes an app that helps facilitate the buying
and selling of used cellphones. The Near Protocol development platform uses the
NEAR token and is also a foundation and collective that gives out grants to
develop the Near ecosystem.
The network is energy efficient and low cost, with users and developers earning
30% of transaction fees. And by using the network, users are already offsetting
CO2, whether they intend to or not!
NEAR also plans to release an NFT platform called Mintbase, on which crypto
artists will create digital artworks that represent South Pole projects. These
NFTs will be auctioned off and a majority of proceeds will go towards CO2
offsetting projects in developing countries that are results-based and verified
by a third party.
HOW IT WORKS
Near Protocol is a development platform that runs a sharded, PoS, layer one
smart contract. The network works with programming languages Rust and
AssemblyScript.
Holders of NEAR can participate in network governance and earn tokens for
staking or securing the network. NEAR can also be earned by winning a NEAR
hackathon, being active in the community, engaging in development bounties, and
other activities that help grow the ecosystem. You can also receive NEAR from
friends even if you don’t have a NEAR account. This is done through the NEAR
Drop, whereby one person can pre-fund a new account and then send a hot link to
the account for someone else to retrieve the tokens.
Near was certified carbon neutral in February 2021 by South Pole, a leading
low-carbon project developer, and climate solutions provider. This was due to
NEAR offsetting its first year’s emissions through documented, verifiable, tree
planting and reducing subsequent emissions. The foundation uses a measurement
method that includes direct and indirect emissions associated with the network.
This includes electricity used to power the network, purchased hardware and
cloud services, and even emissions associated with travel and teleworking by the
NEAR team.
View NEAR on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#27. MOBILECOIN (MOB)
If you like Signal, you’ll probably already know MobileCoin. This super simple
payment method was adopted by Signal as an energy efficient near-zero energy
cryptocurrency that runs on the back of existing mobile phone networks. It is
easy to use, carbon negative, private and secure, and offers near instantaneous
digital cash payments.
To achieve carbon negative status, fans of MobileCoin donated renewable energy
to offset the entire network’s emissions for the foreseeable future.
The founder of Signal was an early technical advisor for MobileCoin and the
blockchain has attracted a range of key investors including Coinbase Ventures.
It raised $66 million in Series B funding and around $107 million in total
funding after four years in development.
MobileCoin is also a supporter of the arts and culture, with a platform called
MobileCoin Radio offering space for creators to showcase their work. This is for
audio, digital, spoken word, and other work, and there’s even an Artist in
Residence program courtesy of MobileCoin.
HOW IT WORKS
MobileCoin was designed to be used by anyone with a cellphone. Breaking down
barriers to engaging with cryptocurrencies, the network engages directly with
messaging apps on your phone or desktop computer. It is encrypted, secure, and
private, and the blockchain runs on a federated byzantine agreement (FBA)
algorithm. This makes MobileCoin energy efficient and fast while remaining
decentralized.
The platform has a number of open source libraries including MobileCoin Fog and
MobileCoin is available on hundreds of millions of devices worldwide. It is a
leading cryptocurrency payment network, if not the most popular digital cash
application. MobileCoin has also secured partnerships with US banks to allow
in-app purchasing and direct-to-bank account conversions.
MobileCoin is available on FTX, BitFinex, buymobilecoin.com, and other
platforms.
View MOB on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#28. ELECTRONEUM (ETN)
Similar to MobileCoin, Electroneum is a cellphone based crypto payment platform
launched in 2017. It is based in the UK but has the intention of providing a
safe, fast, and secure payment system for the billion or so people with no
traditional banking services worldwide.
Electroneum had an initial coin offering of $40 million and launched its wallet
manager in December 2017. Around half of the total supply of Electroneum tokens
are now in circulation, amounting to more than 10 billion ETN coins.
In March 2018, the platform launched one of, if not the first Android mobile
mining application. The founder of Electroneum, Richard Ells, also founded and
launched AnyTask in 2019. This freelancing platform focuses on giving
freelancers in developing countries access to the digital economy. Sellers on
the platform pay no fees and don’t need a bank account.
HOW IT WORKS
Electroneum was originally built using the Monero codebase but migrated in 2019
to a Proof-of-Responsibility (PoR) blockchain. Unlike the original
permissionless network, which allowed anyone to mine ETN for profit, the move to
PoR allows for miners to be hand-picked by the project. This permissioned
network has 12 validators, all of which are non-governmental organizations
(NGOs). These entities earn rewards for validation and use these to fund
charitable work. In the future, universities will also be able to act as
validators on the network.
The Electroneum network was one of the first to adopt AML/KYC measures to
safeguard transactions. As a moderated blockchain using PoR, the network is
insusceptible to a 51% attack, with a mechanism to prevent any group of miners
from owning more than 50% of the network. If or when an attack does happen, the
rogue validator can be shut down quickly and efficiently.
By offering an on-phone mining app, Electroneum democratizes mining, removing
the need for expensive, power-hungry servers. Miners are expected to spend block
rewards earned through Electroneum’s PoR algorithm to support humanitarian
projects, though this isn’t measured or verified in any way. The algorithm is
energy efficient, using an estimate less than half a kilobyte per hash.
Electroneum allows for cross border transfers, with the ability to send ETN
anywhere in the world at almost no cost.
View ETN on Coinbase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPECIAL MENTION – ETHEREUM (ETH)
Ethereum has been making a big song and dance about going green for many years,
but there’s been little follow through on all that promise. The cryptocurrency
still uses enough energy every year to power a major country and as much
electricity per transaction as could power an average U.S. household for a day.
Still, Ethereum is more energy efficient than Bitcoin and they’re at least
trying to make things better.
The founder of Ethereum has long admitted the wastefulness of the bloated
cryptocurrency and in 2014 began a lofty project to overhaul Ethereum’s code
with the help of the open-source movement. The plan is to replace the current
Proof of Work model with a Proof of Stake mechanism, but progress has been slow.
As of 2019, the developers scrapped their original strategy of rebuilding the
plane while it is in the air and instead adopted a two-chain approach where
Proof of Work and Proof of Stake temporarily run alongside each other. They
dubbed this Ethereum 2.0.
In December 2020, Ethereum launched Beacon Chain as the first step in this shift
of the network. Under Beacon Chain, Ethereum 2.0 stores and manages the registry
of validators and deploys the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. It is
currently running alongside the original chain, however, with full
implementation not planned until 2022. This means that the touted one
hundredfold reduction in energy per transaction is yet to be realized.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(NOT SO) FINAL THOUGHTS
With more than 4,500 tokens out there, I’m sure I’ve missed a few excellent
options for sustainable cryptocurrencies. Given the exponential growth in this
area of digital finance, chances are the best is yet to come anyway. If you know
of an eco-friendly cryptocurrency, please leave a comment or send us an email
and we’ll take a look. Feel free to check out our environmental analysis of the
Dogecoin as well.
In the meantime, if you’re an investor who has already reapportioned your assets
from fossil fuel companies and so forth into more sustainable investments,
consider doing the same with any cryptocurrencies you hold. And if you already
have a solar array set up, or are living a sustainable lifestyle, there’s
basically nothing to lose by signing up to SolarCoin and/or BitGreen.
Facebook0Tweet0Pin0Print0
LEIGH MATTHEWS, BA HONS, H.DIP. NT
Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT, is a health and wellness writer and
long-time vegan, environmentalist, and zero-waste, self-sufficiency wannabe.
She's especially interested in ecotoxicology, genotoxicology, nutriepigenetics,
diet as preventative medicine, and the politics of food justice.
Read more
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159 COMMENTS
Join the conversation
1. Frédéric c says:
April 6, 2021 at 5:29 pm
Have a look at hedera hashgraph, they are being used by mutliple companies
that are present in the energy sector.
https://www.ptvolts.com/
https://hedera.com/blog/top-5-global-utility-edf-joins-hedera-governing-council
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:35 am
Thanks for the tip! We updated the piece to add even more sustainable
cryptos (including Hedera Hashgraph!).
Reply
* Debbie Martin says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:09 am
Great article thanks! Hedera was already on you list (first of the
additional six) 🙂
Reply
* sam says:
May 13, 2021 at 1:52 pm
Great. also check out Harmony ONE
Reply
* Luna says:
May 13, 2021 at 10:14 pm
As a mental health provider, I am super excited by the Never Alone
project the Chopra Foundation is partnering with Hedera to create for
the world. Check it out. https://neveralone.love/
Reply
* Cheb says:
May 18, 2021 at 11:25 pm
I would love for you to give opinions on Power Ledger (POWR).
As a novice I tried to find cryptos with a physcal product that could
be envirnmentally posirive.
Would appreciate thoughts on this one
Reply
* Colin says:
May 21, 2021 at 7:36 pm
Hi can you comment on SavePlanetEarth token please.
It sounds like a great project but I cant find any info on the tech
behind it?
Thanks
Reply
* Peter Dockx says:
May 29, 2021 at 12:40 am
Great article, however, you missed a newcomer that is not even on the
Blockchain. It’s called CloudCoin and is on a new system called
RAIDATech. Check it out! Faster, cheaper, cannot be hacked even by
Quantum computers and NO environmental impact!
Reply
* Judith says:
May 23, 2021 at 6:02 am
Please take a look at GLOBALGIVE , it’s a GREEN CHARITY TOKEN and has
amazing potential!
(Also a great hardworking team, helpful community, weekly AMA’s and
first charity is Urangutans )!
GlobalGive.financ
#GGIVE
Reply
2. S Judge says:
April 8, 2021 at 8:27 pm
I am not sure if you have looked at it, but a glaring omission for me is
Stellar. Stellar was created by one of the cofounders of Ripple. Stellar
has a similar objective to Ripple but is overseen by a Foundation rather
than a company as is the case with Ripple. It’s focus is to better enable
cross-border currency exchange by building a blockchain for legacy banking
systems to use as a transport and exchange infrastructure, essentially
replacing the costly slow SWIFT system. Stellar is proof of stake with
extremely low fees. To my mind it has similar properties and objectives to
Nano. I believe Stellar is a strong contender for this list, certainly
more so than Ethereum will ever be.
Reply
* Paula L Rose says:
April 9, 2021 at 2:27 am
I completely agree with you completely!
Reply
* Infinity says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:58 am
Yes i think that thé good choice
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
April 12, 2021 at 5:43 pm
Thanks for the heads-up. I dug into Stellar and have added it here. From
what I see, Stellar isn’t proof-of-stake (it uses the federated
byzantine agreement) and is actually more efficient than networks using
that algorithm. Could be that if/when Ethereum figures out its switch it
might be a serious rival to Stellar, but in the meantime the latter is
clearly gaining the advantage.
Reply
* steve says:
May 12, 2021 at 11:08 pm
missing OkCash the most energy friendly and sustainable crypto with
proof of stake 3 hybrid
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:27 am
Thanks for the tip, Steve. Another one for us to look into!
Reply
* Curtis says:
May 12, 2021 at 10:36 pm
A notable mention is tokens for green projects possibly such as MobiFi
which would have an overall green effect that would more than offset any
carbon produced.
Reply
* AJ LoFranco says:
May 14, 2021 at 1:56 pm
Am I missing something Stellar is number four on the list.
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 14, 2021 at 3:51 pm
Yes. As noted, the list is not in order of best to worst. There are
more than 4,500 crypto networks. Ranking them is a fool’s game, so
we’re just presenting a list of ones to consider and are happily
adding more as folks in the know point out worthy contenders.
Reply
3. Yvonne says:
April 13, 2021 at 7:33 am
Hi!
Thanks for this informative post. I‘m currently looking into sustainable
cryptocurrencies and came across FLOW – and I had the hopes to read more
about it here (unfortunately not, but I’ve learned more about others and
potential alternatives, so thanks for that! :)). Do you know more about
FLOW? I tried my google skills but somehow they‘re not good enough to find
reliable information whether this currency is worth a try or not ..
Reply
4. javier says:
April 13, 2021 at 3:56 pm
why not IOTA?
Reply
* Chris Drella says:
April 18, 2021 at 12:44 am
Algorand isn’t on the list but Ethereum is? Lulz! Ok. Maybe you forgot
to look at Algorand. I’m very pleased that you mentioned Burst though.
Burst should be bigger than it is. Check out Algorand if you haven’t
already. They check off all the boxes and they are the fastest and most
secure of them all.
Reply
* Matt Stover says:
April 20, 2021 at 12:36 am
You mentioned Algorand (which is amazing) and should have been on this
list, thus you have my axe brother! Never heard of Burst, will check
it out.
Reply
* Jos says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:12 am
I mean, IOTA here is the perfect example, you should definitely mention
it.
Reply
* Lee says:
May 15, 2021 at 4:30 am
I was thinking this too. Iota fee less eco friendly and soon to have the
options of being centralised or decentralised.
Reply
5. Jerry Montoya says:
April 15, 2021 at 3:20 pm
Hbar. Really an amazing project.
Reply
* Nina says:
April 21, 2021 at 12:21 pm
Agreed with Hbar. There’s a couple of green projects being built, and
the energy consumption is minimal.
Reply
* Darren Reid says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:43 pm
Hedera HBAR looks like a green machine with the DLT silver bullets.
Reply
* Stefan says:
May 22, 2021 at 7:56 am
I’m really conflicted. On the one hand, the article looks very well
researched. On the other hand, the greenest technology is missing: IOTA.
Reply
6. Mir says:
April 16, 2021 at 4:37 pm
Nano TPS is not 125, its around 700 (battle tested with the resent spam
attack). And TPS scales with hardware, so 700 is not the limit.
Reply
7. Okan Dinç says:
April 18, 2021 at 7:48 pm
I am very sorry that you have no information about Avalanche (AVAX). It
uses PoW and 4500 TPS.
Reply
* Dominic Nadeau says:
May 20, 2021 at 12:07 am
Not PoW, it’s an improved version of PoS. I calculated it’s a few Watt
per transaction compared to Btc’s 707 000 Watt. This would put Avalanche
in #1 greenest cryptocurrency. Awesome technology, staking, governance,
DEFI. What do you do when Crypto dips? You buy the dip or at least
stake/provide liquidity to an AMM so that when your coins gain back in
value you have more.
Reply
8. Zachary Symmes says:
April 19, 2021 at 9:19 pm
Hey, thanks for this list. really informative
Reply
9. Daniel says:
April 21, 2021 at 12:29 pm
You forgot to mention Hedera Hashgraph’s HBAR, which is the most
environmentally friendly of them all.
Reply
10. Jan says:
April 24, 2021 at 10:13 pm
Thank you very much for this article! I was reluctant or even opposing the
cryptos because of their reported energy consumption. I am happy there are
positive alternatives among the coins albeit not many and not the main
ones. I think it is a shame and ignorance that most of the loud crypto
enthusiats do not acknowledge this terrible ecological footprint of their
hobby/religion while they belong to the same generations that so strongly
fights against the climate change, be it by opposing cars, flying or coal
plants.
Reply
* Chris says:
May 5, 2021 at 12:43 pm
I totally agree. Spread the word! For me, Cardano is one of the most
promising projects not at least because of their engagement in Africa.
Reply
* Jan says:
May 7, 2021 at 7:22 pm
Thanks for making me aware of it. I did not know about. I will have
acloser look at it. One more point I would like to mention. What a
shame that no cryptocurrency has successfully started using scientific
computation like Boinc or World Community Grid. This would be a great
project to connect these worlds and not waste electric energy for
financial speculations only.
Reply
* Cubeshit says:
May 14, 2021 at 12:51 pm
There is Gridcoin exactly for that 😀
Reply
11. Neil Cohn says:
April 28, 2021 at 1:10 am
Check out Chia! chia.net
Reply
12. Hem Ramachandran says:
May 1, 2021 at 11:57 pm
Chia.net used hard disk space instead.
Reply
13. H says:
May 3, 2021 at 7:55 pm
Please look into a project called DEVVIO which will be on this list soon.
Please search for Devvio and check out their website for further info.
Join their telegram group as their token sale will be aiming to go public
in June 2021.
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:33 am
Thanks H, and hang tight. DEVVIO will be featured in a forthcoming piece
about even more sustainable cryptos!
Reply
* JS says:
May 13, 2021 at 4:02 am
HI H, how do we do this? I’ve been googling these guys like mad but
nothing on their upcoming ICO or how to find out when that may be.
Reply
14. Tollboothwilly says:
May 4, 2021 at 1:29 am
How can you not have included Holochain? Energy consultant of only 3 MWH
per day, as compared to Bitcoin at nearly 200,000 MWH per day. No
blockchain can compete, and transaction speed is limitless.
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:32 am
Thanks for the tip. Watch out for a companion piece to this initial
foray into sustainable cryptos!
Reply
* Carlos says:
May 14, 2021 at 6:08 am
Please check iota
Reply
15. James Flame says:
May 6, 2021 at 1:42 pm
thanks for posting this great article.. I am particularly pleased to see
less energy wasteful options being taken up. If we are talking about
sustainability then my primary asset is MHC – metahash. its Proof of Stake
based, and achieves a massively high throughput with fast confirmations
based on efficient use of nodes.
That approach sees over 160000 (160K) Transactions per second, under 3
second finality and zero fees with largely low power hardware. That high
basic throughput means that it has so much space to grow before the
managing nodes need an upgrade… Metahash is also properly environmentally
friendly – it was built to be efficient and to perform with low
specification node servers. Unlike other fast blockchains or ‘distributed
ledgers’, Metahash is fully decentralised and offers great daily ROI for
the staking element. MHC is 3 years into produciton is here to stay and
its only just getting started!
Reply
16. Eli says:
May 8, 2021 at 1:32 pm
I saw another person ask about FLOW as well. I was just curious to its
level of sustainability. I mess around with an NFT called NBATopShot
(Virtual basketball trading cards). It’s a ton of fun, and i’ve made some
profit. I face a moral dilemma depending on if FLOW is sustainable or not.
If anyone has any info them lmk, Thanks!
Reply
* Andy says:
May 13, 2021 at 8:29 pm
Thank you!! I don’t like paying so much in SWIFT fees. Thank you God for
creating Stellar and saving my kids energy for tomorrow!!
Reply
17. Mario Bart says:
May 9, 2021 at 6:00 am
I don’t believe that Peercoin (PPC), the first coin to introduce the
concept of Proof-of-Stake isn’t in this list.
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:30 am
Thanks for the tip, Mario. With more than 4,500 cryptocurrencies out
there, it’s great to get feedback so I know where to focus my research.
Will look into Peercoin.
Reply
18. Marc Ten Low says:
May 10, 2021 at 2:26 pm
What is your opinion on POWR? (Power Ledger) – it’s supposed to be
supporting environmental initiatives. I have about $10k of POWR.
Reply
19. salvo says:
May 12, 2021 at 11:26 pm
Wow, no mention of Algorand?????? It should be No. 1 on this list. It is
the best, greenest project out there which already has active projects and
is being heavily explored for many countries’ CBDCs!
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:27 am
Hang tight, Salvo! We’ll be publishing another piece shortly with a few
more sustainable cryptos (including Algorand!). With more than 4,500 out
there, it sure was hard to stick to just nine with this first piece!
Reply
20. Ayman Daouk says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:03 am
I am appreciating this post especially following Tesla announcement a
couple of hours ago. I was wondering if anyone heard of Mina Protocol as I
am surprised there is not much cover on it and I was under the impression
ay be wrong) it had the least fossil footprint.
Any thoughts?
Reply
* Vince says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:27 am
Same. It looks promising to me 🙂
Reply
21. James says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:23 am
There are many projects that are more Sustainable then BTC in my opinion.
Personally I like the vision behind Reddcoin for instance, it’s a
Sustainable Cryptocurrencie that also wants to help others through
charity, in my personal opinion a winning combination
Reply
22. Nicholas Evans (cloudcoin raidatech founder) says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:45 am
The current estimate of electricity use by the RAIDA is much lower. There
are no RAIDA right now that have more than a 500 watt power supplies. In
reality, RAIDA are idle 80% of the time so they only use about 200 watts
per hour. Also, the average cost of electricity in the world is $.13 per
kWh for businesses. So the total yearly costs of the RAIDA are closer to
$5,694 with each RAIDA costing $227 in electricity per year. The average
price per transaction is believed to be .00003 cents.
The costs of the RAIDA is so inexpensive that, like the DNS system, the
infrastructure can be run by volunteers. Hence, CloudCoin has no fees.
All other payment systems are much more expensive to operate. Bitcoin is
estimated to use 61.76 Terawatt-hours (TWh) per year. A Terawatt is 1,000
Gigawatts. That makes CloudCoin 235 thousand times more efficient! That is
so large that it is difficult for people to believe. However, it is true.
There’s no way that cryptocurrencies can compete with RAIDA-based
technology when it comes to electricity usage.
CloudCoin uses a patented technology and it is unlikely that there could
be any system that would be faster. RAIDATech, however, is working on a
“Digital Dollar” project that will reduce electricity usage even further.
By using pure binary, smaller authenticity numbers, and the UDP transport
protocol the bandwidth can be reduced by 30%. However, if a transaction
costs .00003 cents or .00002 cents, it doesn’t really matter to the
consumer. The fact is that CloudCoin and its patented technology is by
far, the most efficient payment system in the world and will remain that
way for a long time.
Bandwidth
CloudCoin uses less bandwidth than any other payment system. Last month
(June 2020) CloudCoin had over fifteen-thousand users who traded more than
150 million CloudCoins. Only 27.64 GB of data was required to handle the
3.7 million requests needed for the transactions. Considering that an
Xfinity home Internet plan costs $10 for 50GB each month, the entire RAIDA
uses only $5 worth of bandwidth each month. In comparison, it is estimated
that each Bitcoin node requires 20Gb per month. There are 100,000 nodes at
a cost of over 2 Petabytes per year. That means Bitcoin uses 533 thousand
times more bandwidth than CloudCoin. We call CloudCoin the “Last Digital
Currency” because it is the first currency to obtain near perfection based
on the “Theory of Perfect Money” and nothing more is needed. What is
perfection? Perfection is a coin that can trade 24/7 in any part of the
world with no fees. A coin that uses nearly zero electricity and
bandwidth. A coin that is 100% private because it requires no usernames,
logins, passwords or public ledgers. A coin that can be recovered if lost
and theft can be mitigated. A coin with a fixed amount so that there is
never any inflation. A coin that is file-based and separates data from
logic so that it can be hidden in jpeg files or imported into software and
video games. A coin that is patented by the USPTO so that it will not have
thousands of copy-coins at least for the next 20 years. CloudCoin has a
“Skywallet” that allows people to send coins using easy to remember DNS
names. A digital currency that is quantum safe and will survive the
extinction of cryptocurrencies that could occur in just a few years.
Reply
23. Crypto Colz says:
May 13, 2021 at 1:04 am
wise token .. quite possibly the most organic and natural crypto token on
the entire market .. !
Reply
24. James says:
May 13, 2021 at 2:21 am
Gochain is the Greenest Fastest Cheapest most sustainable blockchain out
there. It’s a shame your article wasn’t better researched.
Reply
25. Dr.CoreyP says:
May 13, 2021 at 2:49 am
Wow! Thank you for the investment of your time and wisdom, very kind. I’m
brand new to cryptocurrency and currently use Coinbase, however, there are
a lot of coins that I’m not able to buy on there, that said, which other
trusted platforms with diverse crypto coins would you suggest.
Thank you again,
Corey
Reply
26. Maxime says:
May 13, 2021 at 3:57 am
Tezos is the first proof of stake Blockchain.
10 millions time less energy consuming than Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Tezos is the first, the best and will be the last blockchain
Reply
27. paulywallyy says:
May 13, 2021 at 4:08 am
great list glad i have some on there . What about POWR?
Reply
28. R Henry says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:06 am
Have you considered adding GoChain to your article? It’s an incredible,
high throughput, eco friendly project, which is compatible with ethereum.
Reply
29. Kathryn Massey says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:30 am
I was wondering why GoChain did not make the list? They pride themselves
on being a green blockchain and is far quicker and more efficient than
Ethereum.
Reply
30. Mark says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:31 am
Have you looked at WOZX created by Apple founder Steve Wozniak “EFFORCE is
the name of the project, WOZX is the name of the token. It’s the first of
its kind. A blockchain-based energy-saving platform.”
Reply
31. Vince says:
May 13, 2021 at 8:15 am
Nucypher $nu is energy efficient encryption coin.
Reply
32. nick says:
May 13, 2021 at 8:17 am
You should have a look at Harmony ONE project. It’s greener than most of
the projects on the list. It is highly flexible and eco-friendly.
Harmony ONE. You will love it <3
Reply
33. nick says:
May 13, 2021 at 8:40 am
harmony ONE is the best for ecosystem <3
Reply
34. Mary Cert says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:08 am
I am surprised you never mentioned Ankr. It is listed in coinbase and ankr
claim to be using green energy and support ecosystem in their website.
Reply
35. James says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:08 am
Hi Leigh, Please can you amend the MHC review? MHC has never been proof of
work, its been designed as highly efficient and fast with proof of stake
from day one!
There are loads more features lined up to come – and i’m sure that the
decentralised status and current 160,000 transactions per second with sub
1 second finality is not anything that any of the other coins can touch.
Check out the metahash website and dive into the telegram chat for more
details/confirmation!
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 4:04 pm
Done! Thanks for highlighting this, James.
Reply
* Mini John says:
May 18, 2021 at 11:43 am
Yes, while going through the above mentioned tokens, it is understand
that HBAR uses far less energy than others.
Reply
36. guy loui says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:18 am
elrond kilowatt-hours consumed per transaction 0.0052 and 263000 tps the
best
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 14, 2021 at 4:15 pm
Can you point me to a source for these figures please, Guy? Thanks.
Reply
37. guy loui says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:27 am
Here’s the breakdown in kilowatt-hours consumed per transaction Elrond —
0.0052 XRP — 0.0079 Dogecoin — 0.12 Cardano — 0.5479 Litecoin — 18.522
Bitcoin Cash — 18.957 Ethereum — 62.56 Bitcoin — 707
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 3:58 pm
Hi Guy,
Could you let me know where you get these numbers? Would be really
helpful!
Thanks,
Leigh
Reply
38. Olsen says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:51 am
Wenn die geteilte Liste für nachhaltige Projekte im Bereich der
Kryptowährungen tatsächlich realistisch sein soll, muss IOTA hier in der
Auflistung mit erwähnt werden.
IOTA hat effektiv einen geringeren Energieverbrauch pro Transaktion als
Mastercard.
Reply
39. Big Al says:
May 13, 2021 at 12:54 pm
Hi Leigh, love your article! 🤩🤩🤩 Very apropos. We really need to save
the planet and make sure the whole blockchain space is doing its part. 👍.
BTW, I noticed an error in your article worth mentioning. Metahash (MHC)
was never PoW; its basis from the very beginning has always been PoS. It
would be great for you to make that correction. Many thanks!
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 3:57 pm
Thanks for this, Big Al (and to all the others who noticed the same
error). It seems quite a few credible resources mention MHC as being PoW
originally and transitioning to PoS, so I appreciate the prompt to dig
into the history of the crypto.
Leigh
Reply
* Big Al says:
May 14, 2021 at 2:11 am
Awesome! Thanks for the correction. 😄👍
Reply
40. Kate says:
May 13, 2021 at 1:16 pm
Thanks for the article, this is really interesting considering the crypto
environment right now.
Have you heard of GreenTrust? Not sure if there is anything in it but
there website says they are committed to reinvesting all profits in
initiatives aiming at helping the world become carbon-neutral in 2050.
Interesting.
Reply
41. Ryan Beverly says:
May 13, 2021 at 1:53 pm
Hi Leigh,
Great write up and very informative! Thanks for putting this together. I
learned about a few new coins in here I will check out.
I did have a major concern with one of the coins on here, chia. While
mining it is supposed to be very energy efficient, it’s abusive of
hardware. That means more electronics in landfills at a much faster rate.
There’s a lot of material popping up out there as it becomes more widely
known. Here’s one of many articles that lays it out well:
https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/12/what-is-green-cryptocurrency-chia-and-just-how-eco-friendly-is-it
Hope this helps as you continue writing!
Thanks Again,
Ryan
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 13, 2021 at 3:49 pm
Thanks for this, Ryan.
You’re absolutely right that part of the sustainability equation should
be the hardware being used for these networks. Thanks for the info on
Chia. I’ll check it out.
Leigh
Reply
* Ryan says:
May 20, 2021 at 6:51 pm
My pleasure! And again, thanks for doing the leg work to collect up
this list! I hope the traffic this post generated also brought wider
viewership to the rest of your blog.
Reply
42. Alex says:
May 13, 2021 at 2:30 pm
Just wanted to mention Tezos (XTZ). It’s a solid project that’s Proof of
Stake – a lot less energy. It’s got a lot of proven features and has shown
that it is able to update and adapt rapidly without hard forks. It’s also
not an Ethereum clone, but built up on its own fundamentals. It has become
increasingly active with NFTs on Hic et Nunc.
Reply
43. Peter Frias says:
May 13, 2021 at 2:44 pm
Please look at SPE They have a goal of planting 1 billion trees around the
world. They have made partnerships with the government of Sri Lanka and
Maldives to plant trees and save the environment.
Reply
* Norman B says:
May 14, 2021 at 4:01 am
SPE should be on the list. Here’s their official site
http://www.saveplanetearth.io/
Reply
44. John S. says:
May 13, 2021 at 3:30 pm
SavePlanetEarth, SPE should be on this list. Professional team, great
cause – greener planet
Reply
45. Filipe says:
May 13, 2021 at 4:12 pm
I think Gridcoin deserves to be in this article. It is important to first
note that sustainability is not just about energy but also about waste and
social equity. Compared to with the examples shown here it is by far
better for three reasons: 1) it uses proof of research to mint coins. 2)
It rewards computation work for scientific research through the BOINC
Network. 3) It uses idle time of whatever computing you have. These
reasons put together make it a much better alternative than any of these
examples. Why? Practically all energy use is put to a meaningful purpose.
There is very little incentive to hoard hardware to mine coins so it does
not contribute to increasing e-waste. You can judge it by yourself:
http://Www.gridcoin.us
Reply
* Stef says:
August 16, 2021 at 7:26 pm
Hey Filipe I totally agree with your that in order for a project or in
this case a coin to be called sustainble, it must add social, economic
and environmental value, not just one of the 3. You recommend looking at
Gridcoin. Any others? Thank you!
Reply
46. Allister Manson says:
May 13, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Near Protocol (NEAR) is certified as carbon neutral, so probably merits a
place on the list… 🙂
https://near.org/blog/near-climate-neutral-product/
Reply
47. Tushaar Gupta says:
May 13, 2021 at 5:31 pm
Good Job, Leigh! This is great starting point on discussing the Green
initiative. Thank you!
Reply
48. José Miguel López says:
May 13, 2021 at 5:40 pm
Thank you so much. The article is clear. And full of trustly information.
Let’s Go on theese eco friendly cryptos.
Elon Musk, sent a new signal, looking for ecofriendly and more efficient
cryptos. Not to the carbon generating, it has no sense Tesla making
electric cars, but thinking to operate financials on BITcoin if this one
lead to minign on carbon generating electricity… You just have to read the
interlines on that… to esee where are the future on cryptos going…
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR writing this article.
Reply
49. Ashley says:
May 13, 2021 at 6:24 pm
Dfinity – the internet computer – has just launched and they’re project is
the most eco-friendly green cryptocurrency out there, to my knowledge.
They are also in the top 10 now by market cap. Definitely worth including
in this list!
Reply
50. Bobster says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:21 pm
You should take a look at IOTA (mIOTA), it should definitely be topping
this list. Very high TPS, few seconds confirmation times, energy wise you
can do about a billion worth of transactions for every BTC transaction,
and 100% feeless. Developed by a non-profit foundation in Germany with 150
employees, it’s an absolute game changer in the crypto world.
Reply
51. Jaroslaw says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Why is IOTA not included in this list? At present, this is probably the
most energy-efficient crypto solution. Consumed 0.0000016 kWh for 1
transaction vs 980 kWh for BTC.
Reply
52. Ali says:
May 13, 2021 at 7:39 pm
Why is there no IOTA? It’s feeless and it uses more than 600 milion times
less energy for transaction than Bitcoin. It’s one of the most promissing
and green coins at the moment. You should really take a look at it.
Reply
53. Offgridlife says:
May 13, 2021 at 8:24 pm
Another one to look at is the Blurt Blockchain Proof of Work
Cryptocurrency. You mine Blurt from blogging on https://Blurtter.com …. I
do it from my iPad or iPhone powered up with my Solar panel. It doesn’t
get greener than that. You can trade your Blurt crypto for Bitcoin,
Ethereum, Dogecoin on the Ionomy Exchange.
Reply
54. Jo says:
May 13, 2021 at 9:00 pm
I would expect IOTA to be on this list? Especially with some of those
mentioned on here. Iota has no mining, with all computing power done by
the device making the transaction.
Reply
55. Johny Ive says:
May 13, 2021 at 9:01 pm
Where is IOTA ?
Reply
56. Iotangle says:
May 13, 2021 at 9:01 pm
Uhm, where is IOTA? Without any miners, without fees ? Don’t know a DLT
that is more green than IOTA. All of your mentioned Projects are far away
from IOTA.
Reply
57. mafel says:
May 13, 2021 at 9:29 pm
Nano does 1200-1300 tps on the beta network. … Usually (hundreds of)
thousands of transactions are precomputed, that is, you generate them in
advance, save them and then broadcast them to the Nano network as fast as
possible.
NANO Stress Test 100,000 Transactions Per Second … – Reddit
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 19, 2021 at 6:34 pm
Hi,
Do you have a source for this info other than Reddit? If so, I’d love to
see it!
Thanks,
Leigh
Reply
58. kemuri says:
May 13, 2021 at 9:38 pm
Hello, your article about Nano is not exactly right, because:
Nano does 1200-1300 tps on the beta network. … Usually (hundreds of)
thousands of transactions are precomputed, that is, you generate them in
advance, save them and then broadcast them to the Nano network as fast as
possible.
NANO Stress Test 100,000 Transactions Per Second … – Reddit
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 19, 2021 at 6:34 pm
Hi,
Do you have a source for this info other than Reddit? If so, I’d love to
see it!
Thanks,
Leigh
Reply
59. T says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:14 pm
Another quite interesting and energy efficient project is Skycoin, even
though the aim is quite different from the mostly financial direction of
the ones listed here. Maybe that’s why I like it 😸
Reply
60. Elrin says:
May 13, 2021 at 11:38 pm
I’m astounded that an established project like IOTA is not on the list. It
is hands down one of the most energy efficient cryptocurrencies out there
– built for a small footprint from the ground up!
Reply
61. Tom rader says:
May 14, 2021 at 4:43 am
You should look at MobileCoin. The payment method adopted by Signal. It is
extremely fast and very energy efficiency… It runs on the back of existing
mobile phone networks
Reply
62. iva says:
May 14, 2021 at 5:49 am
i have cardano but i also like this MHC
Reply
63. geo says:
May 14, 2021 at 6:15 am
Why not even mention IOTA? the most sustainable of them all?
Reply
64. Ruian Laura says:
May 14, 2021 at 6:28 am
Must know about EGLD…from Elrond
In my opinion they will be the next green gold of the market.
Reply
65. Hodgesvale says:
May 14, 2021 at 10:45 am
Harmony $ONE 💙
They have FUTURE TECH NOW! 🎉
BETTER THAN ETH 2.0!😍
Random state sharding, Proof of Stake, 2 SECOND Finality, Energy
efficient, $0.0001 Transaction Fees, Permissionless….
The list goes on, check out there website out!
You missed an absolute GEM here! 💎
Reply
66. Eric Winter says:
May 14, 2021 at 11:02 am
Nice to see articles like this. As a huge believer in the revolutionary
technology of cryptocurrencies and a believer in the existential threat of
climate change. We need to think about this topic. I’m stuck, however,
with the contradiction of putting a project like eth on a list of most
sustainable chains. What is this article really about? Is it just opinion
and a survey of sustainability issues. Eth COULD do a lot but IS it
leading the industry in sustainability?
Given the massive interest, I think that a more quantitative approach
might be merited. I was very interested to hear Algorand lay claim to
being the greenest blockchain. How do we analyze that claim? What is a
valid framework?
Is it marketing? (Yes). Is there validity to it ?(maybe). Are they to be
applauded and rewarded (yes, for seeing the importance, but really only if
there is some validity.
In short, I for one would love to read more. Any recommendations welcomed!
Reply
* Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT says:
May 14, 2021 at 4:05 pm
Thanks for the thoughts, Eric.
The purpose of the piece is to draw attention to the whole issue of
sustainability in the crypto field and offer up a few of the networks
for consideration that appear to be better than Bitcoin and other purely
PoW networks, not to be a comprehensive, categorical list of the
absolute best networks (which is a fool’s game!). With so little hard
data to go on in terms of energy consumption for each of these networks,
and constantly changing hash rates and market volume, the quantitative
approach I’d love to take just isn’t practical or possible.
We are trying to find a better way to present the data we do have
though. And I’d love to see more robust data in peer reviewed papers
more recent than 2019, which is currently the most thorough research I
have to go on. It’s also deeply frustrating when advocates/evangelists
for these networks claim they’re ‘green’ and even offer a few numbers
but don’t cite sources or show their working.
As for including Ethereum, this struck me as important given the
comparison between Ethereum and Bitcoin as the two major players in the
crypto world. Sure, it is far from the absolute best in terms of energy
consumption, but the network founder and the development team have
demonstrated an appetite to change the algorithm for the better and have
introduced a lot of folks to the idea of PoS instead of PoW, which is
valuable.
Leigh
Reply
* Filipe says:
May 15, 2021 at 2:40 pm
Here is a more recent article:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-020-00656-x
But as the authors point out, trying to achieve a single number for
each cryptocurrency is a fools errand as the actual consumption can
vary significantly with the market conditions. The important
conclusion is that PoW is orders of magnitude worse than any PoS in
terms of energy consumption.
But the title of your article is sustainability not energy
consumption, so as I said in another reply above, you need to consider
the three dimensions of sustainability: Social, Economical and
Ecological. Energy is only a fraction of the problem, and no one knows
for sure how is the energy used by miners produced. In any case thank
you for your work covering this issue and your willingness to discuss
and improve it. Regards
Reply
67. Paul says:
May 14, 2021 at 1:41 pm
IOTA is being used by big brands and is more green by far than some of the
proposed ones. It is the future of the IOT.
Reply
68. Peter says:
May 14, 2021 at 7:08 pm
I suggest Treedefi. They use 1/3 of their fees for planting trees.
(https://treedefi.com/) already donated thousands of trees during their
short existence. Not an individual blockchain, just a BNB token, but worth
a few lines in this article.
Btw, Chiacoin will crush the HDD/SSD… its everything just not green.
Reply
69. Luke says:
May 14, 2021 at 8:33 pm
Was hoping to see some love for GoChain in this article, in terms of
energy consumption and carbon footprint it beats all of the above
solutions & it’s fully compatible with the Ethereum network so developers
could simply switch chains without having to rewrite their code.
Reply
70. Jeff says:
May 14, 2021 at 8:35 pm
Suggest taking a look at Cartesi for the list, a good list and glad to see
Algorand was added, definitely deserves to be.
Reply
71. Paul Pröll says:
May 15, 2021 at 5:44 am
Hey, thank you for your interesting post and this cool list 🙂
What Im really missing in this list is IOTA.
IOTA is not a blockchain. There are no miners. There are no fees. The new
IOTA network is now 60% more energy-efficient than before. IOTA is
fundamentally different. Feeless, sustainable and future-proof.
See where IOTA is involved regarding climatechange:
https://twitter.com/iota/status/1393196077482917892?s=19
Reply
72. Mike Peters says:
May 15, 2021 at 6:16 am
You should have an look at IOTA. This ist Project wich is not based on
blockchain. Its based on the Tangle. Highly efficient. 1 BTC Transaction =
millions IOTA transactions. Look at IOTA.org
Reply
73. Edo says:
May 15, 2021 at 6:50 am
whats about Iota? It has 0 transaction fees and energy costs of only
0,0000016kwh per transaction.
Reply
74. Adam Moss says:
May 15, 2021 at 8:43 am
I can’t believe you left out IOTA from this list. It is probably number
one.
Free transactions means it’s energy use is practically 0. Couple that with
industrial partners coming out it’s ears (Dell, VW, Jaguar Landrover,
Bosh, Fujitsu etc)and lots of great stuff in the pipeline then you have
one of the top projects in crypto.
Reply
75. Jack says:
May 15, 2021 at 9:52 am
Burst the top, Guys!
It costs for now only 0,01$ it will PUMP high soon!
Reply
76. Michael says:
May 15, 2021 at 9:56 am
What about iota? Must be the “greenest” technology out there.
https://blog.iota.org/internal-energy-benchmarks-for-iota/
Reply
77. Giuseppe says:
May 15, 2021 at 3:45 pm
Wow thank you so much for all the incredible information on this page it
was super useful to reposition after the “eathquake” Musk caused with his
tweet which raised a very important issue..
STELLAR and RIPPLE look ready (short term) to go to the next level in my
opinion and there are so many other you mentioned with huge potential.
Reply
* Alejandro Gumbau says:
May 16, 2021 at 8:07 am
Private investor
Reply
78. dugolub says:
May 16, 2021 at 4:51 pm
RChain should be considered here. They’ve built a state of the art PoS
blockchain platform aimed at supporting humanity in facing the threats of
climate change.
Take a look here
https://rchain.coop/whitepaper.html#Introduction-and-Motivation
Reply
79. frog says:
May 16, 2021 at 7:58 pm
Hey nice article, I tend to only bet on ETH 2.0 and RChain, please check
RChain it should be mentionned here, They’ve been working on scalable and
energy ultra-efficient smart contracts for 4+ years.
Reply
80. Stephen says:
May 16, 2021 at 11:00 pm
Polygon (MATIC)?
Reply
81. Billi says:
May 17, 2021 at 12:15 am
RChain is definitely worth taking a very close look.
RChain is pioneering transparent and secure transactions with an
ultra-fast, global scale technology platform. Cooperative governance and a
sustainable economic model make RChain a public utility that can be
applied to climate change, data security, digital identity, and many other
challenges we are collectively facing.
Its architecture which implements RHO calculus is truly unique.
Reply
82. Thad_RChain says:
May 17, 2021 at 12:19 am
Please look at RChain, they are heavily focused on climate and to my
understanding have the best solution to the scalability trilemma with
their concurrent blockchain. Probably the most undervalued blockchain out
there and to my belief the best of the best blockchain.
https://rchain.coop
https://youtu.be/DYuXhoVmOGQ
Reply
83. John says:
May 17, 2021 at 1:35 am
Rchain’s setup generally puts it in a different league from the rest. It
is the only project that provides true concurrency and linear scalability.
Relatively unheard of at the moment but the superior tech will win out.
It’s also a lot further on in my opinion. Lots of the projects listed
above are still struggling with inherent flaws and are still to be really
tested.
Reply
84. C.M. Macgowan says:
May 17, 2021 at 2:32 am
I see that Rchain was mentioned above, but I wanted to add my support for
consideration. The protocol has an eye towards the impact of blockchain
projects on the environment and the Coop has had a dedicated climate &
coordination team for years. Not to mention the blockchain is POS, scales
with additional hardware, and has cracked the nut of sharding.
All should really check it out –
https://rchain.coop/whitepaper.html#Introduction-and-Motivation
Reply
85. Philip M says:
May 17, 2021 at 3:05 am
I’m glad you included Hedera #12 but some of the details are incorrect.
And yes, I think it should be #1 in your list since it could provide
consensus for every other project 😉
CORRECTION ON HOW HEDERA WORKS [I CAN’T CONFIRM NUMBERS OR DATES]:
Hedera Hashgraph passed the number of Ethereum (ETH) transactions on May
6th, 2021, making it one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency networks.
Hedera Hashgraph is planned to scale geometrically without limit (using
sharding), which would allow it to host/provide consensus for every other
payment system and blockchain simultaneously. Thankfully, this
cryptocurrency (HBAR) is a proof-of-stake token, meaning it uses far less
energy than proof-of-work tokens like Bitcoin (although staking is a
little different using the hashgraph algorithm vs a blockchain so there’s
no need to lock up tokens or slash).
HBAR has a current supply of around 8 billion hbars and a fixed supply of
50 billion hbars. It is a decentralized public network used for
“notorizing” and timestamping transactions (including encrypted data for
privacy) sent to nodes by applications and is broadcast out via “mirror
nodes”, to be stored since the mainnet nodes focus on processing vs
storing. The hbar token is used for payments and fees in addition to
staking for network protection from Sybil attacks. Developers can use
Hedera to build secure applications with near real-time consensus. This is
because instead of being a block ‘chain’, Hedera uses a type of Directed
Acyclic Graph (DAG) which means that all transactions are independently
gossiped across the network simultaneously all following random paths.
Each is given a network timestamp when it reaches >50% of the nodes.
The list of owners of the governing council of Hedera is impressive,
including Avery Dennison, Boeing, Deutsche Telekom, DLA Piper, FIS
(WorldPay), Google, IBM, LG Electronics, Magalu, Nomura, Swirlds, Tata
Communications, University College London (UCL), Wipro, and Zain Group.
Hedera Hashgraph adds five main services to the core Hashgraph engine:
cryptocurrency (HBAR), smart contracts, file service, consensus service,
and token service (doesn’t require smart contracts).
How it works
Hedera works through an algorithm called Hashgraph which has the highest
level of distributed consensus security called asynchronous byzantine
fault tolerance (aBFT). This allows for high-level security even if there
are malicious actors on the network or firewall blocks. The algorithm acts
like an engine that processes transactions via gossip-about-gossip with
virtual voting. Hedera Hashgraph is faster than Bitcoin or Ethereum
because transactions are processed in parallel, rather than having to go
through the whole blockchain in a serial manner.
The network reaches consensus through ‘gossip,’ with nodes on the
Hashgraph talking to each other and comparing notes on each transaction’s
history of movement around the network allowing for virtual voting
(weighted by hbar stake per node) by each node independently (without
broadcasting receipts), instead of mining. There is more detail on the
virtual voting process in the Hedera whitepaper (includes voting rounds
and determining famous witnesses, etc…)
Hedera Hashgraph plans for more upgrades to the network in the second half
of 2021, including introducing sharding. This will split the network into
multiple groups of nodes to enable an increase in transactions.
One of the cool things about Hedera Hashgraph is that it is already being
used to facilitate sustainability projects. This includes through Power
Transition, a software system backed by Hedera Hashgraph. This highly
scalable digital energy platform allows people and companies to control
energy use from micro grids to national grids. It can help to reduce costs
and make the move to a zero-carbon economy by dramatically improving
communication between players in networks of any size, making for greater
energy efficiency.
Power Transition estimates that the Hedera Hashgraph platform is 250,000
times more energy efficient than Bitcoin, using just 0.001 kilowatt hours
per transaction, compared to 250 kWh for Bitcoin (Digiconomist puts it at
950 kWh), 55 kWh for Ethereum, and 0.003 for Visa.
[I don’t know much about PowerTransition except it’s pilot project in the
UK. I met the founder in 2018. No idea if the information or plans are
correct so I can’t comment.]
Reply
86. LoveMyIbanez says:
May 17, 2021 at 9:32 am
No mention of IOTA??
Reply
87. Neil Dickinson says:
May 17, 2021 at 10:51 am
Please add Rchain to the list. It’s being built with the aim of enabling
coordination at global scale to tackle climate change. It’s proof of
stake, so no mining, and scales linearly meaning the network speed
directly correlates to the number of nodes added. Check out
https://rchain.coop/climate.html for more info.
Reply
88. Jeroen says:
May 17, 2021 at 11:30 am
Hi,
why is XDC missing from this list? It might even be the greenest coin of
all.
Reply
89. Lloyd says:
May 17, 2021 at 3:14 pm
Try to look at Electroneum (ETN)
Reply
90. Moe says:
May 18, 2021 at 12:29 am
What about vechain?
Reply
91. Joop says:
May 18, 2021 at 4:52 am
Rchain already has all what is important. Should take a look.
Reply
92. Thomas McGrath says:
May 18, 2021 at 9:29 am
Anyone heard of Dfinity? Now rebranded as ICP Internet Computer, lightning
fast, extremely efficient, WEB 3.0!!
Reply
93. Axe says:
May 18, 2021 at 1:51 pm
RChain！！
It joined the climate chain colaction.
How could it be missing?
Its technology is impeccable.
Reply
94. Alex says:
May 19, 2021 at 11:38 am
Thanks for the analysis Leigh.
On eth official page, new data have just been shared (EF blog). Merge to
2.0 would reduce by 2k/2.2k times energy consumption (2.62MW?).
Any idea if there is a sum up table, coin per coin of Wh, Wh/tx, TPS…?
Reply
95. LT says:
May 20, 2021 at 4:01 pm
I thank all of you for commenting and pointing out new ones that I have
not researched , YET!! Great article I hope more people start leaning in
this sustainable direction!!
Reply
96. Khalil Kirkwood says:
May 21, 2021 at 11:47 am
Hey, brilliant blog it was a fantastic read. The only crypto I was
expecting to see that had not shown up was VITE. They are a feeless DEX,
similar to Nano that also have DAG technology in place using the HDpoS
(similar to proof of stake) consensus mechanism for their blockchain. Very
green and efficient blockchain.
All in all, great read. Thank you!
Reply
97. Logan says:
May 22, 2021 at 1:59 pm
Excellent article! As an engineer in the sustainability sector, and also
someone interesting in investing in green crypto currencies, this is
exactly the type of intelligent information needed to make informed,
investments decisions.
I’ve seen some discussion about the Harmony ONE blockchain and it’s
token/coin, ONE. It’s being promoted as an “eco friendly” crypto utilizing
state sharding and proof of stake.
I’m curious to get your opinion of this crypto currency and it’s viability
in the eco friendly space.
Reply
98. Thomas Stormark says:
May 23, 2021 at 11:32 am
Thanks for bringing attention to sustainability in crypto .
My burning questions:
Why Bitcoin is not considering a new btc2.0 – PoS and low energy protocol,
like eth2.0 and others ?
But if Btc2.0 get made one day, could it become backwards compatible with
btc – so that holders could make a swap of all their btc coins to btc2.0
coins – and as such outphase it over time ?
Thanks again for your thoughts!
Reply
99. Ben Ronner-McGinn says:
May 23, 2021 at 11:50 am
It may only be a new token but GGIVE (GlobalGive tokenshould be on this
list.
It has 0 involvement in mining and every month it gives money to a charity
in protecting the earth. Last month’s charity was supporting orangutans in
the rain forest. And today they will release the next charity they will be
partnering with. Search them on Google. The project started 1/5/21
Reply
100. Miner2049er says:
May 24, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Look at Helium HNT, uses the same electricity as a 5w light bulb.
Reply
101. Kevin says:
May 28, 2021 at 3:43 pm
I had no idea! Thanks for the information.
Reply
102. Diana says:
June 5, 2021 at 6:50 am
Lisk (LSK) is missing from the list. It’s really something you should look
into. It’s a DPoS consensus algorithm.
Reply
103. Aylux says:
July 8, 2021 at 1:01 am
Isn’t Algorand carbon neutral?
Reply
104. Michael says:
July 13, 2021 at 9:08 pm
Interesting that the world’s most efficient (as only a few watts to
produce currency) was left off the list? Someone send them to Timekoin. It
is almost as old as bitcoin because watt for watt it makes all other green
coins pale by comparison.
Reply
105. Ari Laitinen says:
September 14, 2021 at 6:20 pm
How about Zilliqa, the first blockchain to introduce sharding. Very green
option.
Reply
106. Charles says:
November 19, 2021 at 11:36 pm
Check out Power Ledger. Peer to peer solar electricity trading.
Reply
107. Rajdeep says:
January 27, 2022 at 8:07 am
One study warned that Bitcoin could push global warming beyond 2°C.
Another estimated that bitcoin mining in China alone could generate 130
million metric tons of CO2 by 2024.
We should focus on to make cryptocurrencies sustainable & eco friendly.
Reply
108. Soncna says:
February 2, 2022 at 10:30 am
Don’t you think Dovu (DOV) should also be on that list? Please check it
out.
Reply
109. Michael says:
February 9, 2022 at 1:25 pm
Not mentioning a market-caps Top10 cryptocurrencie with one of the lowest
power consumptions per transaction (0.0079 kWh per transaction) which is
supported by a foundation which officially claims to be carbon-neutral
until 2030 is kind of interesting. XRP is definitely missing.
Reply
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Written by Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT
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Leigh Matthews, BA Hons, H.Dip. NT
Sustainability Expert
Leigh Matthews is a sustainability expert and long time Vegan. Her work on solar
policy has been published in Canada's National Observer.
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