Skip to main content

Greenpeace Unveils ‘Skull of Satoshi’ to Spark Debate Over Bitcoin’s Environmental Impact; Creator Clarifies It ‘Wasn’t Meant to Be Anti-Bitcoin’

Skull of Satoshi greenpeace benjamin von wong

Greenpeace, the well known environmental NGO, has unveiled the “Skull of Satoshi,” an art installation intended to spark debate about the impact of Bitcoin on the environment. The 11-foot skull was constructed with electronic waste materials and features smokestacks and Bitcoin logos. However, its creator, Benjamin Von Wong, explained it was not meant to be an anti-Bitcoin symbol.

Greenpeace Unveils ‘Skull of Satoshi’ Art Installation

Greenpeace, the international environmental NGO, unveiled the “Skull of Satoshi” on March 23, an 11-foot art installation destined to criticize Bitcoin’s effect on the environment. The structure, which was created by Benjamin Von Wong, has distinctive elements included to spark a debate on how destructive bitcoin mining can supposedly be.

One of these is the presence of smokestacks, which symbolize the use of fossil fuels to produce the energy that serves to operate the Bitcoin network via mining. Also, the skull has hundreds of protruding cables and bitcoin logos in its eyes. According to Greenpeace, it was created with e-waste material, to symbolize the computers used to validate Bitcoin transactions.

Greenpeace’s objective is to raise awareness of the energy consumption of Bitcoin, and how this could change via a change in the code of the cryptocurrency. Greenpeace’s Rolf Skar explained:

Our skull design serves as a powerful symbol, urging financial institutions to use their influence to advocate for a code change that could reduce Bitcoin’s electricity usage by a whopping 99%. We cannot afford to expand our reliance on fossil fuels any further.

The Skull of Satoshi will next travel to New York to be part of an “accountability tour,” in which Greenpeace will try to encourage financial institutions using Bitcoin to call for a change in the code of the currency to lessen its effects on climate change.

Benjamin Von Wong Clarifies His Intention

Benjamin Von Wong, the maker of the Skull of Satoshi, took his opinions to Twitter, clarifying his true intentions with the construction of the installation. The installation, which was commissioned by Greenpeace, was created with a simplistic idea of Bitcoin, Von Wong explained in a Twitter thread on March 25. He stated:

I made the Skull believing that Bitcoin Mining was a simple black-and-white issue. I’ve spent my entire career trying to reduce real-world physical waste, and PoW felt intuitively wasteful. Of course, I was wrong.

Furthermore, Von Wong declared that the sculpture was never meant to be anti-Bitcoin, but part of his “optimistic hope that Bitcoin could shift away from the needless burning of fossil fuels without losing all the other features that make Bitcoin safe, secure, and decentralized.”

What do you think about the Skull of Satoshi and Greenpeace’s campaign to change Bitcoin’s code? Tell us in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/m7IWnlc
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deep Web Roundup: Dream Adds Monero and Bitcoin Tumbler “Chip Mixer” Launches

The darknet has been quiet of late, which is the way it’s meant to be. No news means no mega busts, honeypots, or mass market shutdowns. Even when it’s out of the spotlight though, the deep web is quietly making news, whether trialling the latest privacy coins or the newest coin mixers that promise to restore a little of the privacy that’s being stripped away from bitcoin users on a daily basis. Also read: U.S. Agency ICE Conducts Investigations That Exploit Blockchain Activity The Battle for Privacy Heats Up Privacy is all relative, but of late there’s been relatively little privacy to be enjoyed by bitcoin users. Blockchain monitoring software is becoming more sophisticated and more common, with U.S. law enforcement agencies using it to profile and hunt down deep web users. Chip Mixer is a relatively new bitcoin tumbler that’s designed to restore some of that privacy. Available on both the clearnet and darknet, the service uses a variety of techniques to obfuscate blockchain m...
10 comments
Read more

International Crypto Exchange Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading

Luno exchange has added bitcoin cash trading to the platform following feedback from its client base. BCH is now only the third cryptocurrency available for trading on the exchange, in addition to BTC and ETH , but more options could be on the way once Luno determines that they are credible enough. Also Read: Bitflyer Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Across Europe and the US Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Luno, the London-headquartered company formerly known as Bitx, recently announced that bitcoin cash was made available on its cryptocurrency exchange. Starting from Monday, September 23, customers at Luno are now able to store, buy and sell BCH on the platform. The reason given for adding BCH to the exchange is feedback from users in developing markets that convinced Luno to expand their offering from previously just BTC and ETH . Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, said , “We are in a new and exciting financial era. Developing economies are leading the large-scale adoption and appli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ombudsman Receives Complaints About Crypto Investments in Spain

The Spanish ombudsman has been receiving complaints about cryptocurrency and how some Spanish citizens investing in these vehicles have lost everything. In his annual report, Angel Gabilondo recognized the rise of cryptocurrencies as a new problem due to the little or no regulation crypto sees in the country. In the same way, the EU has also warned about these assets recently. Spanish Ombudsman Gives His Take on Crypto Angel Gabilondo, the Spanish ombudsman, has given his take regarding cryptocurrencies and the effects they have on citizens investing in some of these projects. Gabilondo said in his yearly report that cryptocurrencies have become “a new problem” during the year examined, with many people having lost all of their funds invested. The report states : Cryptocurrency exchange companies or platforms are not regulated in the legal system, are not subject to any public supervision system, nor do they benefit from deposit guarantee systems. The affected users that sought...
Post a Comment
Read more