As Greenpeace USA took to Twitter to proclaim the leading cryptocurrency’s “ravenous consumption of fossil fuels” and unveil a unique new artwork, die-hard Bitcoin supporters were unanimous in their criticism of the campaign.
The organization teamed up with Canadian art activist Benjamin Von Wong to unveil the “Skull of Satoshi”—an 11-foot skull with red eyes, smoking stacks on its head, and an army of shadowy super-coders at its base.
“Can’t wait to buy this skull and plop it next to the nat gas generator powering one of my off-grid bitcoin mines,” Marty Bent, founder of Bitcoin media company TFTC, commented on the video showing the process of how the installation was created.
Many have ironically embraced the installation, with some calling it “badass” and even using it as a new profile picture.
The primary art element, the actual skull, is made with electronic waste donated by Unirecycle, “representing the millions of computers used to validate Bitcoin transactions, known as mining.”
Even this aspect of the installation was mocked by crypto enthusiasts.
“It appears Greenpeace was unable to source a single Bitcoin ASIC PCB for their propaganda. It’s all general-purpose computer motherboards, some CPU heatsinks, a couple old af PCI Ethernet NICs, maybe some old af pre-Bitcoin GPUs? Hilarious,” wrote notgrubles while asking whether Greenpeace is demonizing nuclear power now.
Changing Bitcoin’s code
Though the installation is new, the “Change the Code, Not the Climate” initiative it represents was first floated a year ago.
The primary objective is to get Bitcoin to transition from its currency proof-of-pork (PoW) consensus algorithm to a more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake (Pos) mechanism.
The actual process to change Bitcoin is an open one as the code is also open-sourced. Individuals, including Green Peace, need only reach consensus among developers after filing a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, or BIP. From there, the proposal would also need to win over the mining community, convincing them to operate using the newly-updated software.
But as the infamous block-size wars, a years-long battle to increase how much data could be stored in each of Bitcoin’s blocks, changing the network’s code is easier said than done.
“Anyone can #ChangeTheCode. Just like anyone can change the rules of chess,” responded one of the commentators. “Go ahead, good luck finding anyone to play with.”
Von Wong also tweeted, “PoS will never work for Bitcoin. It goes against its decentralized ethos!”
