Ripple Co-Founder Denies Advocating for Banning Bitcoin

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has clarified that he’s not advocating for banning Bitcoin in response to a tweet posted by Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson. 

Larsen believes that fully switching to renewable energy is not a viable long-term solution since the proof-of-work mechanism simply incentivizes finding the cheapest energy. 

As reported by U.Today, Larsen teamed up with Greenpeace USA in order to launch a $5 million advertising campaign targeting Bitcoin’s energy-guzzling consensus mechanism. The initiative has attracted scathing criticism from the Bitcoin community, which views the upcoming ad blitz as a direct attack on the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Some of the ads will point fingers at the most powerful supporters of Bitcoin, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Larsen says that he himself holds Bitcoin, and he wants it to succeed in the future, which is why he is pushing for a highly improbable code change.  

As reported by U.Today, Larsen urged regulators to punish Bitcoiners during a podcast appearance in September while lauding Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as a “hero” for working on ditching proof-of-work (PoW).   

The billionaire believes that it will be challenging for Bitcoin to compete with Ethereum once the latter switches to the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. The second-largest cryptocurrency is expected to reduce its energy consumption by 99.95% after the completion of its much-anticipated upgrade. 

As Larsen points out, US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is laser-focused on climate, and major institutions will be reluctant to invest in Bitcoin due to the flagship cryptocurrency’s excessive consumption. 

The Ripple co-founder claims that the company itself is not part of the campaign, stressing that it’s his own initiative.