STOCKS TELEGRAPH

Tag: Climate Change

  • BitMEX going green with zero net carbon emissions

    BitMEX going green with zero net carbon emissions

    The cryptocurrency market has been in a whirlwind largely because of the high energy consumption of Bitcoin. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced to not accept Bitcoin as a mode of payment amidst environmental concerns which caused a market crash reminiscent of the 2018 crash. It had put a lot of things in perspective for the stakeholders of the cryptocurrency sphere.

    BitMEX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, had announced to offset its carbon footprint by donating $0.0026 of every $1 received as fees from users. The recipient of the donation has yet to be decided as the exchange researches into suitable partners. BitMEX furthers that it has a responsibility to take a step in this direction. The exchange also stated that this is not the solution but it is a step in the right direction.

    The exchange had been under a lot of scrutiny with the executives currently under trial. The three former executives of the exchange namely CEO Arthur Hayes, co-founder Benjamin Delo, and chief technology officer Samuel Reed are accused of evading the anti-money laundering laws as well as violating the Bank Secrecy act.

    The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission had been investigating the cryptocurrency exchange since 2019. The CFTC had suspicions that the exchange had been operating as an illegal derivates platform. The CFTC had also given ample time to the exchange to strengthen their KYC requirements in order to exclude customers from the United States as it had been operating under a jurisdiction outside the United States.

    Developments had been made in the trial of the three executives as the New York district judge John Koeltl announced the trial date set on March 28th, 2022. If convicted, the executives can face up to five years in jail and a penalty of $250,000.

  • Cryptocurrency Going Green – Crypto Climate Accord

    Cryptocurrency Going Green – Crypto Climate Accord

    Cryptocurrencies have garnered a bit of a reputation when it comes to being environmental-friendly. Bitcoin – the market leader – is leading in this regard as well. The energy consumption of one transaction is the same as one household in the UK consumes for two months. While a Cambridge study places the yearly consumption of Bitcoin equal to Sweden’s annual production.

    With the increase in cryptocurrency adoption, the crypto community has decided to take steps towards making the market green. Following suit with the Paris Climate Accord, a Crypto Climate Accord has come into being. The private sector initiative has the objective of making the industry 100% renewable by the year 2030. The Accord has been founded through the partnership of AIR, RMI and Energy Web while various other major players like Web 3, Ripple, ConsenSys, CoinShares and the United Nations has also joined hands.

    The union of around 20 companies has pledged to move the industry to operate in line with the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change. Although the task is a hard one, given the decentralized nature of the market, the partners have planned to bring the whole crypto industry together and achieve their goal of a sustainable market through mutual collaboration and cooperation.

    Energy Web, AIR and RMI goals include the development of an accounting standard to measure the crypto market’s carbon emission and achieving net zero emissions from the whole industry.