Dennis Porter, a crypto lawyer and the co-founder of the Satoshi Act Fund, has come to Twitter to relay the fact that now that Ethereum has officially merged and shifted onto PoS, this implies that the cryptocurrency will never be able to achieve a carbon negative status. On the other hand, it is anticipated that Bitcoin will reach the position of carbon negative by the end of 2024.
He went on to say that bitcoin mining’s potential to be very location-agnostic and scalable means it may pursue innovative energy sources. One of these fuels is methane. In the context of global warming, methane (or CH4) stands out.
According to the crypto lawyer, methane has an 84-fold greater impact on global warming over 20 years and a 27-fold greater impact over 100 years.
Research has demonstrated that methane levels are at historic highs and are a primary contributor to global warming. Due to their widespread dispersion, methane emissions are difficult to control and expensive to reduce on a large scale.
As the crypto lawyer pointed out, this is where Bitcoin mining becomes relevant. In order to be viable, Bitcoin mining requires very low-cost electricity. One of the most cost-effective energy sources is stranded methane. In extreme cases, it is even given out for free in an effort to reduce methane emissions. He went on to say that the network would become carbon negative if enough methane was prevented from entering the atmosphere via BTC mining.
Without carbon credits, Bitcoin may become carbon negative via the power of the free market and the forces of nature alone. However, Proof-of-Work is required for this to occur. Thus, in his view, shifting to Proof-of-Stake is not just not healthy for the environment, it may be the worst conceivable move for the world.
