XRP Creator And Greenpeace Want To Change Bitcoin's Code With $5M

Chris Larsen, the co-founder of XRP XRP/USD issuer Ripple Labs, has unveiled a $5 million campaign to change Bitcoin’s BTC/USD consensus mechanism.

What Happened: The campaign “Change the Code, Not the Climate" will run advertisements in major media outlets to persuade the Bitcoin community and key stakeholders to change its code to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism from a proof-of-work (PoW) one.

According to a Bloomberg report, Larsen has teamed up with several climate groups, including Greenpeace, to further his efforts in this regard.

The ads will be run on widely read platforms like the New York Times and Meta Platforms Inc’s FB Facebook, and will be aimed at some of Bitcoin’s most influential supporters including Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk and Square Inc SQ CEO Jack Dorsey.

In Larsen’s view, “only 30 people” will need to come together to change Bitcoin’s code into one that “would stop polluting the planet.” 

“Now, with Ethereum ETH/USD changing, Bitcoin really is the outlier,” said Larsen, highlighting Ethereum’s shift to PoS, which is expected to come into effect this June.

The Bitcoin community was sufficiently outraged at Larsen’s proposal, with many taking to Twitter to voice their displeasure.

“I’d put the chance of Bitcoin ever moving to PoS at exactly 0%. There is no appetite among Bitcoiners to destroy the security of the protocol by making such a move,” said CoinShares researcher Chris Bendiksen to Bloomberg.

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading at $47,100, down 0.94% in the last 24 hours.