BitGreen: Pushing Crypto to a Green Future
Since making its mark felt on the mainstage, blockchain technology, and cryptocurrency specifically, elicited the interest of many who understood the potential it can hold rich for social and environmental good. And while the number of projects utilizing blockchain to tackle a range of issues, from deforestation and dirty supply chains to land-rights and universal basic income, seems to grow by the day, so much of this potential remains just that – potential.
And then there’s BitGreen.
Origins of BitGreen
Initially launched in 2017 as an academic experiment seeking to prove that a more sustainable version of Bitcoin is possible, BitGreen quickly drew a global community of advocates bullish on the game-changing opportunities in Blockchain, but uncomfortable with its detrimental energy footprint. With community support, the decentralized project achieved its initial goal — the BitGreen protocol consumes 0.06% of the energy consumed by Bitcoin.
On the heels of this milestone, the BitGreen Foundation was established as a 501c3 in Wyoming, with a core team to serve as operators for the community’s expanded, more audacious goals – of having BitGreen emerge as the engine incentivizing millions of everyday impactful actions around the world.
Everyday Impact
The United States of today is a country defined by the car. Not only has car-use shaped the country in many ways, it has also become a leading contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, whose negative ramifications include harm to the environment, public health, and even social cohesion.
Carsharing, an activity popularized by tech firms such as Uber and Lyft, has the potential of reducing the negative impact of car-use by simply reducing the amount of cars needed on the road.
BitGreen, partnerships with popular ride-hailing services, incentivizes users to choose car-sharing rather than self-drive or private hire. Simply by linking the BitGreen mobile wallet with a participating ride-sharing app, users will automatically be sent BITG for every ride they take
Similar partnerships are being formed to reward sustainable shopping, reduction of energy and water use, volunteering, and more – all available for discovery and action in the BitGreen Mobile Wallet app.
Tackling COVID-19 Together
The Coronavirus took the world by storm, leaving many of us all overwhelmed and underutilized. The blockchain sector, full of promise for future impact, is not prepared to tackle acute real-world problems such as a pandemic – yet.
Fortunately, the Folding@Home project, whose origins as a decentralized network of volunteers donating computing time to simulate protein dynamics — a key need for scientists who are working on therapeutics for many maladies, now including COVID-19 — proved to be the ideal catalyst for the BitGreen community to act now.
Offering a schedule of rewards for computing time donated, the BitGreen community invites all volunteers to join its folding team and earn BITG for helping find the cure for COVID-19. Since launching the initiative in March of 2020, BitGreen is already in the top 1% of all folding teams and is committed to keeping up its community efforts as long as Folding@Home calls for help.
Connecting the legacy of activism with the future of Blockchain
On the day marking the fiftieth anniversary of the first Earth Day, which grew from a small band of idealists to a global environmentalist movement recognized worldwide, BitGreen debuted its own call to arms, with an expanded mission of utilizing crypto to power the impactful actions taken by millions. With the Folding@Home initiative serving as a pilot for future incentivization initiatives, the community plans to roll out its ecosystem of impact opportunities throughout 2020 and has put the call out for all those looking to make a difference to get involved — to take part in shaping the future of BitGreen, and the role Blockchain can play in social good.
