In September last year we already wrote that the climate group Greenpeace had declared war on Bitcoin (BTC). With their “Change the code, not the climate” campaign, they want to realize a bitcoin transition to a proof of stake system. On March 23 Greenpeace announced that it had created an anti-bitcoin artwork in collaboration with an artist. You will be surprised how the bitcoin community reacted to this.
“badass”
The artwork, called “Skull of Satoshi”, was designed by Benjamin von Wong, and is a giant skull with red hot bitcoin eyes. Smoke rises from the skull, referring to the use of fossil fuels. The artwork is a reference to the alleged polluting effect of bitcoin mining.
The bitcoin community thinks the skull looks so cool that they don’t even seem angry. Some call the skull “badass”, and jokingly took him as a new profile picture. Instead of an effective attack on bitcoin, the skull seems to be adopted by bitcoin fans as a mascot.
The details of the artwork were also heavily ridiculed via Twitter. For example, the computer equipment that makes up the outside of the skull has nothing to do with bitcoin miners. A Twitterer wondered if they really couldn’t find equipment from a bitcoin mining rig.
Large cooling towers of nuclear power plants also appear to be on top of the skull. Smoke comes out of this, or is it steam? The same Twitter user wonders what the purpose of this should be. “Are they demonizing nuclear energy now? Those are nuclear cooling towers from which steam comes out.”
Is the Greenpeace campaign justified?
No great success so far for Greenpeace in its anti-bitcoin campaign. There is also the question of whether the campaign is in place. Bitcoin mining seems to be becoming more and more sustainable, and to make less use of fossil fuels.
Since China banned Bitcoin mining, bitcoin mining sustainability has increased from 37.7 to 52.6 percent. Many miners in the United States have filled the void left by Chinese miners, and bitcoin mining in the US is proving to be a lot more sustainable than it was in China.
In addition, the global electricity grid is becoming two percent greener every year with the emergence of renewable energy sources. This also has an effect on the bitcoin mining industry. In fact, in the first two months of 2023, more than 90 percent of all new bitcoin hashrate was green.