Measurable Data Token (MDT) has announced the launch of a blockchain-based oracle service, Measurable Finance (MeFi), which has been designed to connect traditional financial data markets to the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. In its primary showcase of utility, the project constructed a decentralized application (DApp) —accessible on both the Ethereum and testnet blockchains — which enables DeFi participants to access stock trading data from some of the world’s largest financial marketplaces, including the Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange (NY and Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). With the introduction of these services, decentralized data sharing network Measurable aims to advance the …

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Rarible has introduced a new functionality titled “lazy minting” that promises users the ability to create nonfungible tokens at zero cost — all while enhancing environmental sustainability on the platform. Instead of the traditional method whereby data is stored on the blockchain immediately after minting, Rarible announced Monday that, under its new program, NFTs are “minted not at the moment of creation, but at the moment of purchase. It’s the buyer who pays the gas fees when purchasing the item.” In this case, data will be stored on a decentralized peer-to-peer storage system called IPFS. Amid …

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has been asked by a group of local businesses to deny permits for converting the city’s old fossil-fuel power plants into crypto mining centers. The request comes in the form of a letter co-signed by a number of organizations, businesses and labor groups. The letter calls for an environmental assessment for proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining in the state of New York while urging Governor Hochul to deny permits to convert the Greenidge Generating Station and the Fortistar North Tonawanda power plants into crypto mining facilities: “Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency mining use enormous amounts of energy to …

As the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) have risen this year, so have the concerns about the energy consumption of cryptocurrency mining. Due to the Proof of Work (PoW) protocol for mining, some estimates suggest that the Bitcoin network uses almost as much energy as Argentina. Therefore, many skeptics are quick to blame the digital currency for carbon emissions and climate change. As a result, although some cryptocurrencies don’t use mining at all, the industry as a whole is often quick to receive blame for its environmental impact. Some suggest that up to 70% of this energy should come from renewable …

Blockchain payments firm Ripple has announced a $44-million environmental, social and governance (ESG) joint venture partnership with fintech provider Nelnet Renewable Energy to fund the adoption of environmentally conscious solar energy initiatives across the United States. According to the announcement, the new fund is expected to offset over 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over 35 years, equivalent to the energy usage of 180,635 homes for one annum. In March 2021, Nelnet Inc. received a commendable E1 ESG accreditation from the S&P Global Ratings evaluation board for the former’s $9.9-million solar tax equity fund. The project entails the financial backing …

MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen has published an essay outlining measures that could be taken to make the protocol a vehicle for addressing climate change. In a lengthy Tuesday post published to the MakerDAO governance forum, Christensen asserts that MakerDAO should strive to ensure that all of its collateral comprises “sustainable and climate-aligned assets that consider the long-term impacts of financial activity on the environment.” Christensen asserts that the protocol’s collateral should be invested into sustainable real-world assets (RWAs) through senior credit positions in projects that build “solar farms, wind turbines, batteries, recharging stations and other cost-efficient renewable energy solutions, as …

As the nonfungible tokens craze took off at the start of the year, many climate-conscious artists vocalized their disapproval of Ethereum’s energy consumption. In May, Elon Musk then derailed Bitcoin (BTC), citing the energy consumed by Bitcoin as cause for Tesla to withdraw its plans to accept BTC as payment for its electric cars. Both of these events have provoked a surge of debate from inside and outside the blockchain community. In particular, the arguments tend to focus on two areas: Bitcoin’s energy consumption and its dependency on climate-damaging fossil fuels versus renewables and, secondly, the benefits of one blockchain …

Earlier this year, Elon Musk raised concerns about the potential damage the crypto mining industry is doing to the environment. This discussion drew a lot of attention and started a wide conversation on how the industry can decrease its environmental footprint. Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, famously quipped that Bitcoin (BTC) miners are energy arbitrageurs in their search for cheap or wasted energy. He argues that the bad name earned by crypto is unjustified when comparing the energy consumed by the regular banking ecosystem. There is one project that is not only concerned with energy consumption but also possesses a …

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance, or DeFi, newsletter. Despite Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson's claim that the DeFi space is now “up for grabs,“ it was rival Vitalik Buterin who stole the headlines this week with a feature in Time Magazine. What you’re about to read is the smaller version of this newsletter designed for brevity. For the full version of DeFi’s developments over the last week — released a whole lot quicker than Cardano’s smart contracts — drop your email below. Buterin’s Time to Shine Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin was listed in Time Magazine’s 100 most …

Bitcoin billionaires Tim Draper and the Winklevoss twins have backed a startup dubbed “Colossal” that is aiming to resurrect woolly mammoths as part of the effort to fight climate change. The “de-extinction”-focused bioscience firm closed a $15-million funding round on Monday that was led by Legendary Pictures founder Thomas Tull. The round also included participation from Peter Diamandis of Bold Capital, Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital, and Tony Robbins, a famous “self-help guru” with a net worth of around $500 million. Colossal was founded by Harvard genetics professor George Church and entrepreneur Ben Lamm. The firm’s landmark de-extinction project will …

A major South Korean telecommunication company, KT Corp, has outlined plans to create a fully electronic documentation service, utilizing blockchain technology to contribute to environmentally conscious ambitions. The telecommunications firm currently provides around 90% of the nation’s fixed-line mobile networks, as well as a further 45% of broadband high-speed internet services. The e-document venture titled “E-document Digital Transformation (DX) One Team” will be a collaborative effort among 14 businesses, with the established objective of reducing the network’s carbon emission output. Once implemented, the initiative will digitize the entire tenure of the paper-based documentation process ranging from creation through to storage …

Accelerate Financial Technologies is planning to match each investment in its pending Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with the planting of thousands of trees. According to a Friday report from Bloomberg, the Calgary-based investment services company has pledged to plant 3,450 trees for every $1 million CAD — roughly $792,000 at the time of publication — invested in its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF. The move is part of Accelerate’s aim to have its Bitcoin ETF be carbon negative — that is, removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the energy required for Bitcoin mining and transactions would create. The …