The bitcoin, the most famous virtual currency of the moment, is a currency without physical representation and it is not regulated by an authority. It is a new way of buying and selling through electronic transactions. The high energy cost required by the storage of information and the execution of thousands of transactions per second, mean that bitcoin is the currency that produces the most carbon emissions.
If bitcoin were a country, it would be the 27th nation with the highest energy demand on the planet, The environmental footprint is the most worrying issue of the cryptocurrencies, since the operations with bitcoin (BTC) today already represent 0.14% of global energy consumption.
As a result of this concern, Bitcoin Zero (BTC0) has arrived; a token consisting of a bitcoin (1 BTC) plus the removal of 10 tons of carbon represented by 10 tokens from Universal Carbon (UPC02).
The first token of tradable carbon in the world is UPC02, created by Universal Protocol Alliance. When someone buys this token, what you are actually buying is a fraction of REDD+ carbon credits from the Voluntary Carbon Market, as well as their corresponding certificates. They buy the right to be able to emit CO2.
The goal behind UPC02 is to put pressure on the upward carbon credit market and thus be able to speed up the ecological transition by making release the same amount of C02 increasingly difficult and costly. The purchase and sale of carbon credits make it more difficult for companies that want to acquire these credits in order to emit CO2.
Whoever buys carbon credits can choose to use that right to pollute to offset the CO2 released or wait for those rights to acquire more value in the future.
Companies that do not emit CO2 could allocate part of their budget to buy carbon emission rights to prevent other companies from accessing them. In this way, demand can be increased and, consequently, the price.
Bitcoin Zero (BRC0) can only be purchased on the UpHold platform, through which it is possible to trade cryptocurrencies, tokens and other assets. Marketing this asset would be of vital importance for decarbonisation.
References:
- Original article: https://www.nobbot.com/futuro/bitcoin-zero-carbon-emissions/
- What is the carbon footprint of a bitcoin? - Good New Energy (enagas.es)