One of the driving forces causing hesitancy in further adopting cryptocurrencies is the immense amount of energy is takes to keep servers going to support the blockchain, which validates transactions.
The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, is planning to switch to a new operating system, or merge its model, to one that the people backing it say will use nearly 100% less energy than it takes now to support its system by using fewer computers to validate cryptocurrency transactions.
Ethereum backers say the new move, called The Merge, appropriately, will take it to a new operating system that will use 99.9% less energy. And if the claims turn out to be true, it could spell a marked increase in the adoption of Ethereum, leading to more communities and countries willing to host the crypto mining plants needed to keep the cryptocurrency in operation.
Ethereum currently stores millions of digital finance and crypto products, theBBC reported.
Cryptocurrencies currently rely on huge crypto mines, which are ugly behemoth warehouses packed full of computers that have a huge environmental impact because of the energy they use. They're using noisy and hot and an eye sore for many communities that host them. Crypto mines are a network of computers, and many who operate them are making plans for how smooth or not-so-smooth The Merge will go.
Ethereum backers call The Merge their plan to go green amid increasing worry about the impacts of climate change and high energy usage around the globe.
Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation said, "It's a big achievement. It massively changes the properties of Ethereum."
"It reduces the amount of electricity used by Ethereum by over 1,000 times," he said.
In 2014, programmer Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum.
Some crypto mine operators say The Merge would cause them to mine other cryptocurrencies so that their investment in large warehouses full of computers doesn't go to waste. It could mean either more support for Bitcoin, which would still use the current operating system or more support for Ethereum for those concerned about environmental impacts.
