Some bitcoiners are hesitant to say that the Ethereum merge will have any effect on the crypto asset of their choice, but don’t count Dan Held among them.
The head of growth marketing at Kraken and the leading bitcoin influencer, who calls himself a bitcoin “mostmalist” these days (instead of the stuffy “maximalist”), said on the latest episode of decryptThe K GM Podcast suggests that an upcoming Ethereum merger could attract the attention of environmentalists who decry bitcoin’s energy consumption.
“I think it will add pressure to the energy consumption of bitcoin, because they will point to ethereum and say, ‘Hey, this blockchain’ – I am talking from a layman’s point of view here – ‘this blockchain is too much energy. Not using. Absolutely, and you’re using a lot.’ And that’s it. They’re not going to understand proof of stake versus proof of work, or anything else.”
The merge will transform the Ethereum network switch from a proof-of-work consensus model to a proof-of-stake. it is expected to be on or around 15 September,
Switching to the new consensus model should According to the Ethereum Foundation, cut the energy consumption of the Ethereum network by 99%. But despite the additional pressure that bitcoin could bring from environmental critics, Held said he still hasn’t heard a credible reason for abandoning proof of work for bitcoin.
For starters, he made reference to some Security concerns surrounding the merger, Many users have pointed out Dominance of some major staking pools in securing networks, and the fact that government regulators can force them to block transactions from approved entities like tornado cache There is a large area of concern and questions about the notion of decentralization of Ethereum.
“If there is a catastrophic failure in the Ethereum protocol because of these trade-offs, well, yes, sure, you cut your energy consumption by 99%, but then the protocol fails,” Held said. . “I am not saying it will, I am saying that it opens up Ethereum to some technical attack vectors that the bitcoin community does not want to take. And so they are sticking with proof of work.”
Held said he believes a political element that is working in favor of bitcoin is a comprehensive re-evaluation of ESG policies (environmental, social and governance). It is a catch-all term applied to everything from investment products, government policies, and corporate values.
Some of this has surrounded the efforts of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. define the word and regulate how this applies to investments. But even more pressing in the ESG turmoil is uncertainty in Europe as to whether the continent will have enough energy to get through the winter.
As of Monday afternoon, Russia, which provided 40% of Europe’s natural gas last year, has indefinitely cut supplies to the continent in what it calls “punitive economic sanctions”, according to a Russian-language outlet. interfax,
“I think we’re seeing a kind of global, anti-voke energy pushback,” Held said. “So this comes a very, very good time for bitcoin, when Europe is about to stabilize because of its cryptic ESG policies… I believe that, yes, global warming is caused by people, and Global warming exists. I think politically charged ESG requirements may or may not really help solve the problem.”
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