Vasja Zupan of Matrix Exchange: Vasja is the president of Matrix Exchange, a regulated digital-asset exchange operating globally. “Bitcoin is the most decentralized and stable blockchain network there is. It has survived countless challenges, and decentralization ensures its resilience. Only a truly decentralized network can survive hindrances from block size wars and forks to regulatory pressure. While new anonymous networks are available today, transaction anonymity, more functionality or new approaches to blockchain validation do not ensure higher decentralization and resilience.” These quotes have been edited and condensed. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do …

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 …

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is holding its 76th annual meeting between Sept. 14 and 30 to bring countries together at a critical time for marshaling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis, which has worsened the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Related: How will blockchain technology help fight climate change? Experts answer Ahead of the UNGA meeting, the latest report released …

Tom Baumann of the Climate Chain Coalition: Tom is the founder and co-chair of the Climate Chain Coalition, an open global initiative to advance collaboration on blockchain/DLT and digital solutions to enhance climate actions. “In general, digital solutions can be helpful tools to support a low-carbon economy. The World Economic Forum estimates that digital solutions can help achieve 15% of the Paris Agreement goals. These solutions can be used throughout the entire economy, creating smart grids and buildings, smart transportation, integrating with digital services and more. Digital tools could link sustainable production to sustainable consumption in a more efficient, equitable …

Blockchain mining networks are often victims of their success. The two contemporary realities that demarcate the mining landscape and cause blockchains to fall short of what they promise are 1) the ongoing technological arms race driven by inherent competitive greed; and 2) the rising energy costs associated with proof-of-work (PoW) mining. Blockchains built on the PoW consensus have become highly unequal and increasingly centralized in terms of their hash rate. This concentration of mining power in fewer and fewer hands is an attack on the fundamental requirement for distribution and decentralization that blockchains possess. In addition, the motivation to ramp …

In early July, JPMorgan released a report in which two of the bank’s analysts projected that the staking industry would be worth $40 billion in rewards by 2025. The report anticipates that once the Ethereum 2.0 network completes its transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS,) payouts will more than double, up to $20 billion from the current $9 billion. Within the next four years, it will double again. With the rapid rise of staking over the last few years, it’s hardly surprising that traditional finance analysts are starting to take note. While the JPMorgan analysts are correct that the …

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. Since 2013, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, has been discussing the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) risks of large multinational enterprises (MNEs) — risks arising from the digitalization of the global economy. BEPS 2.0 reports came out in 2018 and 2019, aiming to ensure a fairer distribution of the rights to tax the profits of large MNEs, …

Debates regarding the amount of energy required to mine Bitcoin (BTC) have been ongoing. While tech pioneers such as Elon Musk have recently mentioned that the crypto industry is headed toward a greener future, some academic researchers have noted that mining BTC consumes more power than that of small countries. While these arguments are still hotly debated, it has become clear that awareness of green crypto initiatives has been on the rise. For instance, some Bitcoin miners are now looking at nuclear power as a solution to remove carbon emission from the electricity leveraged to mine BTC. At the same …

Global investment firm SkyBridge Capital has partnered with carbon credit provider Moss to purchase tokens representing 38,436 tons of carbon offsets. SkyBridge announced the move on Monday, with founder Anthony Scaramucci forecasting that the Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry “will be fully renewable by the end of the decade.” In the meantime, Scaramucci believes carbon offsets offer an “effective” means for the sector to improve its ecological footprint: “In the interim, carbon offsets represent an effective way to green the Bitcoin network and facilitate adoption by ESG-minded investors.” SkyBridge is an institutional asset manager that provides exposure to BTC via fund …

Pennsylvania-based Bitcoin mining firm Stronghold Digital Mining has filed for a $100-million initial public offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm filed its S-1 form on Tuesday, and if given the green light by the SEC, Stronghold intends to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the “SDIG” ticker. Stronghold is a sustainably focused and vertically integrated Bitcoin mining company that was founded in 2021. In June, Cointelegraph reported that the firm completed two private equity securities raises worth $105 million. According to the new filing, Stronghold will use the funds …

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed for the first time that his firm SpaceX owns Bitcoin (BTC). The company is yet to officially announce how much Bitcoin it has purchased, however, Musk’s other company, Tesla, purchased $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency earlier this year, which sparked a major Bitcoin price rally. That rally came to an abrupt end after Tesla stopped taking Bitcoin payments due to environmental concerns, but speaking at “The ₿ Word” — a virtual event dedicated to Bitcoin — the erratic tech billionaire suggested Tesla was on the verge of accepting the cryptocurrency again following promising signs …

The United Nations Global Compact, a nonbinding pact aimed at encouraging businesses to adopt sustainable, socially responsible policies, has accepted nonfungible token (NFT) and blockchain gaming platform Enjin as a participant. Enjin announced on Tuesday that it would be exploring ways to use NFTs to promote sustainability and equality as part of the UN pact. The company suggested using the technology to fight climate change by employing it in carbon-capture companies and reducing the global wealth gap by allowing creators around the world permissionless access to NFT markets. "While we are struggling to recover from the global pandemic and its …