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Bitcoin-Hating Bitcoin Millionaire Donates His Wealth to Germany's Green Party

Wed, 04/14/2021 - 15:26
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Alex Dovbnya
Germany's Green Party has received €1 million in Bitcoin from a software developer who believes that the top cryptocurrency is ruining the planet
Bitcoin-Hating Bitcoin Millionaire Donates His Wealth to Germany's Green Party
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Getting filthy rich with crypto does not necessarily make you ideologically wed to it.

The German Green Party has received €1 million in Bitcoin from Moritz Schmidt, a software developer who wants to get rid of his newfound wealth, Die Zeit reports.

This is the biggest individual donation that the party known for its environmental advocacy has received since its inception.

Schmidt—who resides in the northeastern German town of Greifswald—believes that his Bitcoin profits are "underserved wealth," according to the party's spokesperson.

Being himself a Green Party member, Schmidt wants to use his wealth for something that reflects his views.

The software engineer claims that the flagship cryptocurrency is environmentally harmful due to its energy-intensive proof of work (PoW) consensus algorithm.

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The Bitcoin energy debate

Bitcoin now consumes more power than American Airlines and Argentina, which makes it a target for climate activists.

However, in its recent report, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest points out that Bitcoin is far more efficient than banking and gold mining:

Traditional banking consumes 2.34 billion gigajoules (GJ) per year and gold mining 500 million GJ, while Bitcoin consumes 184 million GJ, less than 10% and 40% of traditional banking and gold mining, respectively.

Earlier this month, CoinShares, ConsenSys and Ripple joined the Crypto Climate Accord to completely decarbonize blockchains by 2025.

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About the author

Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience of covering everything related to the burgeoning industry — from price analysis to Blockchain disruption. Alex authored more than 1,000 stories for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media outlets. He’s particularly interested in regulatory trends around the globe that are shaping the future of digital assets, can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.