Even if you are not deeply versed in the intricacies of various cryptocurrencies, you are probably aware of some of these problems: Unlike money, crypto still has to persuade people other than enthusiasts to use it. It has to persuade governments to leave it alone. Transactions are pricey and cumbersome. And one of the most cited drawbacks is crypto’s environmental impact; the “mining” infrastructure for some of the most popular cryptocurrencies is estimated to consume more electricity than many countries.
On Thursday, ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency platform, moved to put that last concern to rest, undergoing a gut renovation of its architecture. The tricky feat (known as “the merge” for technical reasons that need not concern us) has radically reduced the amount of electricity needed to process transactions; by one estimate, ethereum’s energy usage and carbon footprint have now fallen by 99.9 percent.
This sort of evidence for optimism mixed into continuous proof for pessimism is exactly why we’re still arguing about crypto 14 years later — far longer than…
