Now, thanks to the willingness of the miners from around the world, there is more than enough computing power to run the industry.
When it comes to electricity, however, the situation is more complicated. It’s not that there is a lack of electrical power, but spending it in such quantities as, for example, Bitcoin does, is really harmful to the environment. The question of eco-friendliness in crypto has been here a long time, but it really went big earlier in 2021, when Elon Musk said that Tesla will stop accepting Bitcoin payments because the coin is not eco-friendly.
While some have tried to find a way to make Bitcoin greener, others have taken a deeper look into the rest of the crypto industry, trying to find projects that are already eco-friendly. Of course, with 0.00011 Kilowatt-hours (KWh) consumed per transaction, IOTA is in the lead. But there are others that aren’t nearly as bad as BTC.
Three Eco-friendly crypto alternatives to IOTA
Below we explore the three eco-friendly alternatives to IOTA.
XRP
Immediately after IOTA, with 0.0079 KWh consumed per transaction, Ripple’s XRP is officially the second-best according to the amount of electrical power that it requires. Despite its issues with the SEC and the unanswered question of the coin’s true nature, Ripple definitely knew how to make an efficient network, and this eco-friendliness might be its ticket back into the good graces of the US regulators if the question of whether or not the coin is a security can be answered favorably for the company.
Dogecoin
Dogecoin has been the first and most popular meme coin in the crypto industry, and as it turned out, it is also one of the greenest cryptos out there. This coin consumes only 0.12 KWh per transaction, which is infinitely better than BTC, and one of the reasons why Elon Musk prefers it over the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
DOGE has already seen great amounts of popularity earlier this year, and its eco-friendliness may help it rise even further, especially now that the Dogecoin Foundation has returned.
Cardano
Lastly, with 0.5479 KWh per transaction, we have Cardano (ADA). Charles Hoskinson’s project has also seen massive amounts of popularity in 2021, particularly since it is about to bring smart contract support to its mainnet, which will allow it to start launching new coins, dApps, DeFi projects, and more. Cardano is currently the 3rd-largest crypto by market cap, and, given its eco-friendliness, it might see even more support in the future.
