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We live in an age where we can measure our carbon footprint and how it affects the global climate. We realized that we need to preserve this planet that we call home, and one way to do that is to make sure that our daily activities do not increase the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This last gas is responsible for the greenhouse effect and the activities of mining crypto – in particular that of Bitcoin (BTC) – have been put in the spotlight for the consumption of large amounts of electricity and therefore with an effect harmful to the environment.
It is with this background that Sid John Leopold and Niclas Englesson (Stanford and University of Stockholm respectively) have published a research paper on the carbon footprint of our money. The research included the environmental impact of the USD on the Visa, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and XRP networks. In the document, they put forward the notion that money is all about efficiency and the cost of producing it. They stated that:
One of the fundamental properties of money is that it should be a good medium of exchange. Its purpose is to allow a more efficient exchange … money should make it cheaper to allow trade.
In the analysis that followed, they discovered that, for the aforementioned forms of "money", XRP was the most environmentally friendly as seen in the infographic below.
The XRP is more efficient than the VISA
Further analyzing the screenshot above, we find that after 220 million transactions on the XRP register, the energy consumed could power only 14 light bulbs . On the contrary, with the same number of transactions the mining activities of BItcoin can consume enough energy to power 149 million light bulbs. VISA is not as efficient as we thought. For the same number of 220 million transactions, the VISA network consumes enough energy to power 8,177 light bulbs.
In conclusion and summarizing the research paper, XRP is the most environmentally friendly cryptocurrency out there that consumes less than normal VISA transactions. This in turn means that if we were serious about reversing climate change, XRP would be our favorite digital asset for everyday business.
Disclaimer: this article does not intend to provide financial advice. Any opinion here should be taken as well as it is. Perform your research before investing in one of the many cryptocurrencies available.
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