The volatile world of cryptocurrencies prepares for a new major shock this week with the mutation of one of its main values, Ethereum, which changes its way of operating to reduce its voracious energy consumption.
Created in 2015, Ethereum is the second “blockchain” (“blockchain”) most important in the world, after Bitcoin. Its capitalization is equivalent to approximately 20% of the market, far behind the main currency, Bitcoin (40%).
But it is above all his massive use in the world of digital art (about 90% of transactions), which provokes the expectant attention of artists, experts and collectors.
ethereum works from the “mining”, a method of enrollment and validation of computer operations that consumes a lot of energy.
If, for example, a digital artist decides to sell a work on a platform that uses Ethereum as a cryptocurrency, the first thing they have to do is create an NFT, a non-fungible token, on that blockchain.
That NFT is what will allow you to sell the work, and then receive a commission (normally between 5% and 10%) each time that work changes hands.
Ethereum is an autonomous blockchain and decentralized, a bit like the Internet. Thousands of computers around the world work non-stop to “mine” these operations in the “blockchain” by constantly creating and adding new records (“ledgers”).
Each operation is registered in the chain, which is totally open and, the defenders of cryptotechnology assure, totally safe and indestructible.
More energy than New Zealand
The drawback is that this “mining” of the Ethereum chain spends each year more energy than New Zealand.
With the change planned this week, between September 13 and 15, Ethereum will go from the “proof of work” system, which certifies that the registration has been “mined”, to the “proof of participation”. ” (“proof of stake”), in which those who participate financially in the block chain are basically rewarded.
This change would suddenly eliminate the use of thousands of computers and it could lower Ethereum’s energy consumption by “99%,” Lennart Ante, of the Blockchain Research Lab, tells AFP.
The operation, known as ‘The Merge’ (‘The fusion’), should last about 12 minutes, according to experts, who calculate that it will take place between 13 and 15 September.
A “critical mass”
Being a fully decentralized chain, a “critical mass” of participants is required who are willing to voluntarily abandon “mining”, very lucrative for those with more computing resources, to a more democratic and participatory system, and by definition, more ecological.
In game is not only the credibility of the world of cryptocurrenciesbut also a huge amount of money.
Ethereum is one more cryptocurrency in a market that moves billions of dollars a year.
Currently Ethereum it is quoted around 1,700 dollars the unit. And around 59% of cryptocurrency loans are made with that platform.
If the mutation is successful, “it could give confidence to traditional financial institutions to develop Ethereum-based services,” explained a recent research note from ING bank.
But Doubts remain along the way. Groups of “miners” have already announced that they are ready to create a “fork” that at the decisive moment will keep the old “blockchain” running.
Related news
The largest NFT trading platform, OpenSea, warned through a tweet ten days ago that will only recognize tokens “registered in new ‘proof of stake’ chain”.
Some NFT collectors are calm. “I am not worried at all. The only thing I have done is transfer my NFTs to a single account” as a precaution, Albertine Meunier, a collector and digital artist, told AFP.