Cointelegraph’s Greenest Blockchain Networks in 2022

In 2022, green crypto projects continued to advance as more industrial companies focused on sustainability to reduce carbon emissions. A number of elemental forces drove the paradigm shift, including user demands for faster and more energy-efficient blockchains, growing investor awareness of climate change, and increasing government concerns about energy consumption in the crypto sector.

Among the most notable green crypto developments of 2022 was the transition of the blockchain from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus layer. The merger, completed in September, joined Ethereum’s original execution layer with its new PoS consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminated the need for energy-intensive mining by allowing the network to be secured with Stacked Ether (ETH). The switch immediately reduced the power consumption of the Ethereum network by 99.9%. Ethereum’s position as the leading programmable blockchain signaled industry-wide progress toward low-carbon solutions.

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