Top 5 Environmentally Friendly Alternatives to Bitcoin

Some people claim to be strong supporters of the environment, but don’t always practice what they preach. One example is with bitcoin investors that claim to be eco-friendly.

Bitcoin has a major negative impact on the environment. A single bitcoin transaction has the same carbon footprint as the average household for an entire month. As a result, there are a lot of organizations that are simply against Bitcoin. But yes, there are several efforts being made to minimize the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency. However, it is not enough.

Also, we cannot ignore the importance of cryptocurrencies. The good news is that cryptocurrencies are becoming eco-friendlier. The European Business Register released a report last year documenting this trend.

Luckily, there are several other crypto coins that use sustainable energy. And in this topic, I am going to briefly look at such crypto coins.

So here we go:

Best Alternatives to Bitcoin which are Environmentally Friendly

Bitcoin might not be great for the planet, but there are some great eco-friendly altcoins worth looking into instead. Some of the best are listed below.

 1. Stellar

First, there is the Stellar. It is one of the popular cryptocurrencies out there developed by the Stellar Development Foundation. It was launched back in 2014, and it allows a faster and cost effective mode of transactions. Also, it is looked at as a strong alternative to PayPal for money transactions.

Talking about its environment friendliness, it uses a consensus protocol. A better protocol compared to the proof of stake algorithm.

Stellar consumes less energy to create and maintain the XLM ledger than the Bitcoin ledger does. The stellar network uses about 0.2222 Wh energy to process one transaction, while Bitcoin uses 2,256 KW hours of energy.

Also, stellar has different use cases. For instance, it can be integrated with ecommerce payment companies, p2p lending and finance, micro insurance, cash transfer, mobile payments, and so on.

However, the only drawback of Stellar is that, unlike other cryptocurrencies, XLM is highly centralized. As the network depends heavily on the Stellar Development Foundation.

2. Cardano

Cardano is another popular crypto coin available out there. It is one of the biggest cryptocurrencies based on the market cap. Cardano is said to be the next-gen thing of the Ethereum idea. As it has a flexible blockchain. Plus, it is a sustainable and scalable platform for running smart contracts.

Cardano has its main focus to become the most environmentally sustainable blockchain platform. As it uses a unique proof of stake consensus mechanism called Ouroboros. And it doesn’t use high energy consumption protocols like the proof of work system that Bitcoin or Ethereum uses.

Talking about Ouroboros, It is a staking mechanism that has proven more energy-efficient compared to Proof of Work (PoW) mining. It selects block produces at random. As a result, the more stakes a participant has in the network, the higher the chances of being picked to create a block.

Also, according to Cardano, its consensus mechanism is four million times energy efficient compared to Bitcoin.

However, the only con of Cardano is that it lacks smart contract functionality. In contrast, Ethereum is also moving to a proof of stake system via the ETH2 upgrade. Hence, in the future, it would be tough for Cardano to compete with its main rival.

3. BNB

BNB is another popular cryptocurrency that powers the BNB chain ecosystem. It is one of the world’s most popular utility tokens. With BNB, you can trade other cryptocurrencies on the Binance exchange. But BNB also has a wide range of applications and use cases.

One can use BNB to pay for goods and services, settle transaction fees on Binance Smart Chain, participate in exclusive token sales, and more.

Along with that, Binance Coin (BNB) is also environmentally friendly. But BNB didn’t start it’s journey to become an eco-friendly coin.

Instead, BNB was created as a token hosted on the popular Ethereum network initially. But back in September 2020, Binance launched their Binance Smart Chain or BSC, which is an Ethereum alternative that comes with the same features and functionalities as Ethereum.

Plus, Binance made a major change to the consensus mechanism by opting proof of stake mechanism. It has an extremely low impact on the environment. As mining isn’t required. Instead, the stake incentivizes good behavior.

4. Solana

Solana is one of the newest cryptocurrencies out there. It is a public, open-source blockchain that supports smart contracts, including NFTs and dApps. The coin was created back in 2017.

And it has established itself as the fastest blockchain in the world and the fastest growing ecosystem in crypto. Also, on Solana there, thousands of projects like DeFi, NFTs, and web3 are being hosted.

It is backed by a unique consensus mechanism that offers faster transaction speed, making it energy efficient.

Also, Solana is extremely eco friendly. As it is decentralized and backed by a proof of stake mechanism. As a  result, it doesn’t depend on energy to validate transactions.

The coin is extremely energy efficient that one Solana transaction uses 0.00051 kWh energy. Even one Solana transaction is much more environmentally friendly compared to two Google searches.

Even after having a low energy consumption by the Solana network, The Solana foundation is working to make the network more carbon neutral.

5. SolarCoin

SolarCoin is a blockchain based cryptocurrency. The coin was developed with the purpose of accelerating the energy transition. Just like Bitcoin, the SolarCoin network is global and decentralized.

However, the payout of SolarCoins is linked to a meaningful, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly incentive. It pays on the basis of the generation of solar power.

It is an open community project that started back in 2014. It rewards solar power generation by issuing blockchain based digital tokens. One SolarCoin is issued for each megawatt hour (MWh) of verified solar power production.

Unlike Bitcoin, SolarCoins are not mined using computers and solving complex math problems. Instead, SolarCoin is issued to the participants for generating solar power. It encourages the use of Solar Energy.

Invest in the Best Eco-Friendly Altcoins to Protect the Environment

So that was all for the top 5 environment friendly alternatives to Bitcoin. Different coins have different use cases. So make sure to research your preferred coin and only then think of investing in it. Also, for any other questions, feel free to drop a comment below.