We have already examined the energy consumption of Bitcoins with its Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism in a separate article. There are many alternatives that are much more resource-efficient. However, it must be said that so far nothing has come close to the security of Bitcoins. PoW is based on computing power and computing power cannot be simulated or faked.

The Proof of Work consensus mechanism requires an extremely large amount of computing power, which means that the energy consumption of the process is extremely high. For example, the power consumption of large Bitcoin mining farms is extremely high. Often these farms are powered by energy from coal-fired power plants. This means that the emission of greenhouse gases emitted by the industry around Bitcoin is extremely large.

The best-known energy-saving alternative is called Proof of Stake (PoS). The computing effort is replaced by coins. Since this costs money, it is difficult to accumulate many and gain power in the network.

Another advantage is that PoS is not hardware intensive. Good standard hardware is usually sufficient, while PoW uses special hardware, which often fills entire halls and thus poses a security risk. If the largest of these inflexible mining farms are seized by governments or other powerful organizations, they have power over the network.

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There are many interesting cryptocurrencies that are significantly more eco-friendly compared to Bitcoin. Let's list our top 5!

Cardano implements full Proof of Stake. That means there is no hashing component like there is with Peercoin (see our article on Proof of Stake ). Cardano should therefore also need little power for the consensus mechanism. Like EOS, Cardano is a smart contract-enabled platform. The nodes also consume more power under load. However, the power consumption is significantly lower than with Bitcoin, especially since the security of the network does not depend on the energy consumption. Cardano is therefore a good example of environmentally friendly cryptocurrencies.

Ripple is often said to be central because the company behind it, Ripple Labs, controls a large part of the cryptocurrency XRP. In terms of energy consumption, however, the network is comparatively economical. All nodes are known in the ripple network. That means not everyone can just join without being notarized. This eliminates the authentication-free consensus mechanism of Bitcoin, which is generated by the computing effort, and significantly less electricity has to flow.

Eco-friendly cryptocurrencies often use new concepts. The cryptocurrency DOT of the Polkadot network uses nominated Proof-of-Stake as a consensus mechanism. The Polkadot blockchain acts as a so-called "relay chain". The resources flowing into the system are thus "subleased" to new blockchain systems. Polkadot thus promotes a quick and resource-saving start of your own system. The interaction between the participating chains is improved because the play chain simplifies the interactions between the individual systems. 

EOS uses the delegated Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. This means that half of the network is authentication-free. The trusted block producers are chosen by the token holders. Only 21 block producers do all the computing required for the network. Other nodes then check all or selective transactions, which also costs electricity, but is nowhere near as good as Bitcoin.EOS is a high-performance platform that consumes power during calculations. Australian block producer GenerEOS published a study last year estimating the power consumption of the EOS main grid at 0.0011 terawatt hours per year. In comparison, Bitcoin consumes around 73 terawatt hours of electricity per year, making EOS an environmentally friendly cryptocurrency.

IOTA is also currently using a consensus mechanism that, if it were to run decentrally, would be based on PoW or in which the security of the network depends on the energy consumption. However, IOTA currently has a coordinator who centrally secures the network. A new consensus mechanism is planned, which partly uses PoW and partly uses other mechanisms for consensus building. The new process is likely to consume significantly less energy than Bitcoin.

Recently, the EU Parliament even considered a draft law to ban technologies such as Bitcoin due to its resource consumption. Although this is an insane proposal, it also shows the need to make Bitcoin more environmentally friendly.

In the past, much of Bitcoin mining was done in China because electricity was extremely cheap there. However, it was also electricity from “dirty” coal-fired power plants. With the mining ban in China, mining has shifted significantly. However, this also helps the environmental balance of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin mining has become increasingly environmentally friendly in recent years, especially in Northern Europe. Most of the energy for Bitcoin is already obtained there from renewable energy. Other countries are also working on technologies that will make Bitcoin more environmentally friendly.

You can also purchase these cryptocurrencies on the crypto exchanges  Coinbase  and  Kraken  .

With the new bullrun in sight, there are new opportunities to achieve high returns in the crypto market. In recent months, the so-called "Ethereum killers" have proven to be extremely good investment opportunities. What is the status of these cryptocurrencies and what does their future look like? Let's find out 😉

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We've talked a lot about Cardano in the past few weeks. The ADA token made a strong jump in price even before the big Bitcoin rally a few weeks ago. This was due to the announcement of the details of the new major update at Cardano - Basho. Basho is the next big step in the development of the Cardano blockchain.

Basho increases the scalability of the blockchain. Cardano should thus achieve an unprecedented transaction speed of up to 100,000 transactions per second. Overall, the efficiency of smart contracts and the blockchain in general increases massively. Cardano could actually become a serious Ethereum competitor and a true Ethereum killer in 2022.

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Solana was the fourth quarter's shooting star in the crypto market. The SOL token has made a massive ascent in recent months, even outperforming Cardano’s ADA token. Above all, the high speeds of up to 10,000 transactions per second made Solana so popular and made the blockchain an "Ethereum killer".

Now is an ideal time to jump into these Ethereum killers. Buy these cryptocurrencies on crypto exchanges  Binance ,  Coinbase ,  Kraken  and  Bitfinex !

Despite the successes on the market, the Solana network is repeatedly plagued by problems. Thanks to the proof-of-history consensus mechanism, the blockchain can process transactions super fast. But there are always problems with network overload. The network has crashed again in the past few days. Solana needs to address these issues to stay relevant in 2022.

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The third “Ethereum killer” that also hit screens at the end of the year is Avalanche. This network also stood out due to its high transaction speeds and high scalability. The AVAX token made it into the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the last few weeks of 2021. 

In the last few weeks, Avalanche has been a little out of breath. While the number of applications running on smart contracts increased overall, the total locked value (TLV) fell by an overall 20% in January. Avalanche has to prove itself as an "Ethereum killer" in the face of strong competition in the coming months.

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