Velas is the Future of Eco-friendly Blockchains
Technology, Engineering 3 min reading
Content
Show- BTC and its Environmental Impact
- Causes of Growth in Electricity Consumption
- PoS vs. PoW
- At the Intersection of Technology and Environmentalism
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Smart Contracts on SteroidsWelcome to the latest edition in our series, Exploring Velas' Innovative Technologies. Throughout this series, we delve into the cutting-edge technologies propelling Velas forward as a leading blockchain platform, reshaping the landscape...
The Velas blockchain uses cutting-edge technology and provides its users with all the benefits that the cryptocurrency community has been seeking for years. It has not only high transaction speed (50 000+ TPS), but also extremely low fees (0,00001 $). More importantly, this blockchain is carbon neutral, which is crucial for fighting against excessive environmental pollution.
“One of our main priorities is to make this world a better place. Taking care of the environment is one of the steps towards this goal.”
BTC and its Environmental Impact
Bitcoin was a true revolution in the world of finance. Blockchain allows users to conduct peer-to-peer transactions without any intermediary. BTC now has become one of the most attractive financial instruments. The problem is that Bitcoin, along with many other blockchain networks, is not eco-friendly.
While Bitcoin does not produce emissions itself, the consensus mechanism behind the first cryptocurrency is very energy inefficient. According to data received by experts at University of Cambridge, currently a BTC transaction’s electricity consumption is more than an average US household.
Another research compares the annual Bitcoin network electricity consumption with various countries. According to data received by experts at Cambridge University, the power consumption of Bitcoin is currently between the Netherlands and Argentina. With the Bitcoin network growing, the power consumption will become even more voracious, and these figures are likely to significantly increase in the future.
Causes of Growth in Electricity Consumption
Bitcoin is based on the Proof-of-Work mechanism, which requires significant calculating power to create new blocks and to protect the whole network. In the beginning, it was enough to use CPUs (Central Processing Units) to complete those tasks. Now, to mine new BTCs, miners use rigs of GPUs and even ASICs (special hardware for cryptocurrency mining). With this transformation of the mining model, electricity consumption has grown exponentially.
Bitcoin is not the only network using the PoW consensus mechanism. Plenty of cryptocurrencies work on the same energy-inefficient protocol. They use the same approach, which increases the complexity of calculations over time, making those systems even more harmful to the environment.
PoS vs. PoW
Environmentalists, along with other eco-conscious citizens, have pointed out this flaw in excessive energy consumption for years. This led to the invention of a new consensus mechanism called “Proof-of-Stake”. While being equally effective in network protection, it is also carbon neutral.
Proof-of-Stake requires almost no calculations. The concept of this mechanism is to create blocks using nodes that have a stake (hold a particular quantity of tokens on their addresses). Although the move to PoS is related to solving the problem of scalability, as a consequence, it has also affected consumption of energy. The environmental impact has made developers shift towards less energy consumption. Proof-of-Stake is an example of how modern technologies can adapt to this new model and put nature first.
At the Intersection of Technology and Environmentalism
Velas is the fastest EVM blockchain ever (with 50 000+ TPS), with the lowest fees. The Velas team has taken care of current environmental and ecological needs by integrating an innovative hybrid consensus of Delegated Proof-of-Stake (PoS) with Proof-of-History (PoH).
Considering the significant damage that the crypto industry causes to the environment, following this path of creating more emissions is short-sighted and irresponsible. The idea that lies behind Velas is to be stable and sustainable.
The Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism provides an unprecedented level of scalability and speed. This solution is essentially a variation of PoS, which among other benefits also reduces cost and high energy consumption by coordinating validators without competition as in PoW. The PoH mechanism provides the highest network performance compared to other PoS systems. With this in mind, the technology is environmentally friendly, which makes it a prospective option for further usage and development of the blockchain industry.
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