According to Bloomberg, Larsen is launching a new campaign called “Change the Code, Not the Climate” with several climate activist groups, including Greenpeace. The campaign aims to raise awareness about Bitcoin’s environmental impact and put pressure on the community to switch to a proof-of-stake model.
According to the report, Bitcoin’s network, which has been chastised for its inefficiency in terms of energy consumption, currently consumes as much power as Sweden. Larsen stated in an interview with Bloomberg that consumption could reach the same level as Japan within five years.
The campaign plans to buy ads to spread its message over the next month, as well as mobilize “millions of members” of Greenpeace and the Environmental Working Group for a grassroots push against Bitcoin.
Michael Brune, the campaign’s director, said:
“We are in this campaign for the long haul, but we are hoping — particularly since Bitcoin is now being financed by entities and individuals who care about climate change — that we can compel leadership to agree that this is a problem that needs to be addressed”
Brune named a number of companies that he hopes will support the campaign, including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and PayPal.
Larsen called Bitcoin an “outlier,” citing Ethereum’s plans to switch to proof-of-stake in the coming months. He mentioned that newer protocols, such as Solana and Cardano, are based on low-energy technologies. Larsen is reportedly contributing $5 million to the campaign’s funding.
Larsen was immediately chastised by several prominent crypto community members, including Messari founder Ryan Selkis and Casa Co-Founder and CTO Jameson Lopp:
Chris Larsen – who in a just society would be in jail for the bad faith investor misrepresentations he and his team made regarding their XRP sales – is spending money attacking the industry that created his ill gotten multi-billion dollar fortune. Judas.
— Ryan Selkis 📖 🖊🔑 (@twobitidiot) March 29, 2022
Dear @bruneski @chrislarsensf @Greenpeace,
I am unable to find your Bitcoin Improvement Proposal submission, nor can I find any discussions initiated by you on the development mailing list.
Please follow the process if you wish to be taken seriously. https://t.co/pXJzYzq1Mj
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) March 29, 2022
