Ethereum’s changed way to works may cut cryptocurrency Power demand

A change in the way Ethereum, the cryptocurrency works may have cut its power consumption by the amount used by a country.

A work published in the data-science journal Patterns suggested that the amount of electricity saved after Ethereum changed its way is equal to the amount used by Ireland or even Austria. The largest crypto, Bitcoin is believed to use more electricity than Finland. The same article noted that emissions from Bitcoin could exceed the global saving made by driving electric vehicles currently.

 Ethereum, like every other cryptocurrency, relies on a blockchain, constantly updating the database and logging every transaction and it was previously verified and maintained by a system called Proof of Work.   Volunteers and companies whose computers help helps to run the network were rewarded with crypto coins and the amount of work they complete is directly proportional to the chance of creating new coins. The article in the Patterns journal suggested that this encourages businesses to set up massive warehouses of computers that run 24*7 and the energy used for that is often derived from fossil fuels.

However, in an event known as The Merge on 15th September, Ethereum switched to a system called Proof of Stake, where the chance of earning a new coin no longer depends on the amount of computing work completed.