On Dec. 18 Cointelegraph reported that Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun publicly pledged to donate $1 million to Swedish activist Great Thunberg to raise global awareness of the climate crisis.
Following the COP25 UN Climate Conference in Madrid, Sun tweeted:
Although Sun has pledged a donation of $1 million to Greta Thunberg’s campaign, it was left unclear as to how cryptocurrency would help reduce carbon footprints through the creation of decentralized settlements.
Regarding this, Sun told Cointelegraph that decentralized settlements and decentralized finance platforms are run by computers on cloud computing systems. In turn, this eliminates the need for paper documentation.
“Decentralized settlement and decentralized finance are completely run by computers on cloud computing systems, thus eliminating the need for ledger documentation and management records kept on paper.”
Additionally, cloud computing systems do not rely on physical transportation infrastructure, as everything is digital. Systems like these could make it possible for people to travel less, easing the travel sector’s burden on the environment — it accounts for 8 percent of global carbon emissions.
“These types of records require postal mailing which is done through transportation. The whole Know Your Customer process also requires face-to-face interaction, which sometimes makes it necessary for people to travel. All of this will not be compulsory when decentralized finance is utilized.”
Sun also pointed out that using a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system could reduce energy consumption seen in traditional Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining methods used by Bitcoin. To put this into perspective, a study recently showed that Bitcoin mining emits over 22 megatons of carbon dioxide annually, comparable to the total emissions of cities such as Las Vegas and Vienna.
“By adopting a [PoS] system, it drastically reduces the massive energy consumption used in traditional [PoW] mining method used by Bitcoin.”
Lastly, Sun mentioned that decentralized financial systems are beneficial in that they are readily available around the world.
“Decentralized finance systems are available to everyone in the world! Bank the unbanked. Today, the traditional finance system is limited, expensive and not cost effective. Enormous resources and steps are required just to open an account. Imagine having to serve a heavily populated country and all the wastage that ensues. I truly believe blockchain must be in our future if we want to eliminate wastage and make a difference.”