Change The Code, a Greenpeace-backed initiative that seeks to change Bitcoin’s consensus algorithm, has blasted Wall Street companies for the support they are showing to Bitcoin-related activities. On social media, it has called out companies like Fidelity, Blackrock, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs, stating their actions propping up climate-destroying technologies are “unacceptable.”
Change the Code Rails Against Wall Street Incumbents
Change The Code, a campaign that seeks to change Bitcoin’s consensus algorithm to “fix” its energy consumption, has called out Wall Street companies for their support of Bitcoin activities. The initiative, backed by Greenpeace and EWG, has criticized the recent push of financial incumbents toward Bitcoin-related investments.
Change The Code explained that Fidelity, Blackrock, Vanguard, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citi held shares in 24 mining companies valued at over $1.35 billion, accusing Wall Street of “going all in on Bitcoin” and directly supporting these activities.
It stated:
The climate movement has worked to hold financial institutions and banks accountable for their fossil fuel investments. Propping up and profiting from industries destroying our climate is unacceptable.
Furthermore, Change the Code called on these incumbents to answer for their “dirty investments” and “support a code change to help BTC achieve near 100% efficiency.”
Change the Code Objectives
The campaign to change the code of Bitcoin was launched in March when a group of so-called green organizations and crypto groups started to create awareness of the energy requirements of the Bitcoin network and its possible effects on the environment.
However, the recent barrage of bitcoin-related projects backed by established financial companies, including the launch of EDX, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial, and the filing of several ETF proposals by more incumbents, has taken the campaign to the offensive, stating that “these companies are turning a blind eye to these investments like other fossil fuel investments perpetuating climate chaos.”
The campaign advocates for Bitcoin to switch to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus that would reduce its energy consumption by almost 100%.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, completed a similar change in September as part of an update event called “The Merge,” which changed its network dynamics, leaving some miners out of business. The energy footprint of the protocol’s entire operation was reduced by 99.99%, going from an estimated 23 million megawatts of energy per year to just 2,600.
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