Moritz Schmidt is a Bitcoin millionaire who wants to get rid of his cryptocurrency riches. Schmidt has recently donated a massive donation of 1 million euros to the German Green Party. It should be noted that the payment has been made in the form of Bitcoin. Schmidt is a German software engineer who has become the center of attention in the crypto circles for raising awareness about an important cause.
According to Schmidt, he wishes to part ways with the type of wealth that comes at a great expense for the planet’s health and well-being. The software developer referred to the huge amount of energy required for the Bitcoin mining process and needed for its Prove of Stake (PoV) consensus algorithm. There had been many environmentalists who have been at odds with the cryptocurrencies regarding this point.
The Green Movement of Germany against Bitcoin
The Green Movement of Germany is a political party in the 6th largest EU nation. The party is a conjoint rendition of its predecessors, the “Alliance 90” formed in East Germany and “The Greens” formed in West Germany. At the moment, the political movement is the fourth-largest party in the region by membership and boasts over 101 561 activists. The party has gain momentum to put forward its candidate for the seat of chancellor at the end of Angela Merkel’s tenure.
Schmidt’s donation is a vote of confidence by German youth and the largest donation that the party has received thus far. It should be noted that Germany is also the second-largest reserve holder for gold in the world, with 75.6 percent of foreign reserves locked in the precious metal. There is a strong chance the German politicians would want to go in a different direction from the cryptocurrencies as the market keep sending the precious metal prices into depression.
The Digital Assets Energy Debacle
Many studies show that the Bitcoin mining operations consume more power than the State of Argentina and American Airlines. Green earth advocates have been on the case of the Bitcoin energy conundrum for quite some time now. However, all is not bad when it comes to the Bitcoin energy consumption issue. A recent survey conducted by Ark’s Invest has pointed out that BTC is more energy-efficient than the centralized banking systems.
In the report, Cathie Wood declares that Bitcoin consumes 184 million GJ per year, which is 10 percent lower than the traditional banking systems and 40 percent lower than the traditional gold mining process. There has been a cold war in the world to accumulate more semi-conductors and start new mining operations to get a better BTC exposure. However, companies like CoinShares, ConsenSys, and Ripple Labs have signed up for Crypto Climate initiatives that are aiming for carbon reduction of the blockchains by 2025.
