Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Thursday that the automaker “was looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.” In case Musk & Co. are looking for green alternatives to Bitcoin (BTC), they have some cryptocurrencies they can pick and choose from among low-energy consuming coins.
Dogecoin (DOGE): A favorite topic of discussion for Musk, DOGE consumes 0.12 Kilowatt-hour or KWh per transaction. It is the second-least power hungry coin as rated by the technology company TRG Datacenters. As a contrast, BTC consumes 707 KWh and comes at the last place of the list. Ethereum (ETH) consumes 62.56 KWh per transaction.
See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)
The annualized estimated consumption for BTC, according to Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, is 147.79 Terawatt hour or TWh.
Bitcoin's Power Consumption As Per Cbeci.Org
On Tuesday, Musk introduced a poll through his Twitter account asking his followers if they want Tesla to accept DOGE. 78.2% voted in favor, while 21.8% voted against.
Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2021
At press time, BTC traded 12.12% lower at $50,416.11, ETH traded 8.95% lower at $3,905.84, and DOGE traded 10.17% lower at $0.44.
XRP (XRP): The cryptocurrency associated with Ripple Labs, Inc is the least power-hungry, as per TRG Datacenters. It consumes 0.0079 KWh per transaction. However, XRP has been under a cloud since December after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a lawsuit against Ripple for conducting an unregistered $1.3 billion securities offering. Ripple has managed to score some legal points against the SEC as of last month.
XRP traded 10.99% lower at $1.35 at press time.
Cardano (ADA): With a power consumption of 0.5479 Kwh per transaction, ADA is placed at the third spot in terms of being least power-hungry by TRG Datacenters. Cardano claims to be the first blockchain platform built through peer-reviewed research and has the stated aim to bring about “positive global change.” It was founded by the entrepreneur-mathematician Charles Hoskinson, who also co-founded Ethereum.
ADA traded 8.37% lower at $1.64 at press time.
See Also: Musk's Dogecoin Army Recruit Gene Simmons Turns Cardano Adherent — Here's Why
Litecoin (LTC): As per TRG Datacenters, LTC consumes 18.522 KWh per transaction. LTC can be merged with DOGE, which has proven to be a boon for Litecoin miners. Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus singled out environmental advantages of this type merged mining with a Scrypt coin.
“[Dogecoin] gets the benefits of high hash rate without as significant of a carbon footprint as other Scrypt coins, making it very robust and secure,” said Markus in a conversation with Benzinga in April.
LTC traded 16.16% lower at $322.74 at press time.
See Also: Is Litecoin Slated To Be The Next Crypto Show Stopper?
Chia Network (XCH): A newly introduced coin, XCH, touts itself as the solution to Bitcoin’s power-hungry operations based on its Proof of Work blockchain. As per, Chia’s business whitepaper, BTC consumes power comparable to Finland, which is “rightly controversial.”
Average Network Power In MegaWatts For Various Cryptocurrencies As Per Chiapower.Org
“Chia Network’s blockchain (and chia) is intended to be a “green,” eco-friendly alternative to Proof of Work,” claims the whitepaper.
XCH traded 0.21% lower at $1,076.00.
The Suitors Line Up: Proof of Work was the original security system popularized by Bitcoin and involves solving complex mathematical problems using powerful but power-hungry computers. In contrast, Proof of Stake has emerged as an alternative; this system is based on pre-existing coin ownership. Now that Tesla is searching for an alternative to Bitcoin, supposedly for environmental reasons, several contenders will vie to become the automaker’s coin of choice. The race is already on as can be gauged from these tweets by Justin Sun, the founder of Tron (TRX), and Doge co-founder Markus.
Hi @elonmusk if you really want an instant, stable, low fee and green energy payment solution for @Tesla your best choice is @Tether_to on #TRON. It has been used by tens of millions of people globally with over $10 B transaction volume per day. https://t.co/KQgwRgxo4m
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) May 13, 2021
if only there was a merge mined cryptocurrency that had a much smaller carbon footprint than bitcoin, and also had a dog on it
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) May 12, 2021
What coin will Musk end up picking as Tesla's coin of choice of payments? Your guess is as good as ours.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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