"Change the Code, Not the Climate" FUD campaign coming next month

[nullama]

A group of people are going to campaign for a change in how Bitcoin works.

They will buy ads in mainstream media publications to spread some FUD about Bitcoin's proof of work.

Chris Larsen, who founded his own altcoin 2012, is going to be one of the people funding this campaign:

Larsen said Bitcoin’s power consumption issue could be fixed via a soft or a hard fork -- both changing the network’s code to make Bitcoin less power hungry. A soft fork would preserve Bitcoin as a single blockchain. A hard fork would split Bitcoin into two separate networks, one supporting miners and the other running different code -- perhaps Proof of Stake.

The campaign believes that about 50 key miners, crypto exchanges and core developers have the power to change Bitcoin’s code.

But of course, Bitcoin will just continue independent of this campaign:

Whether the campaign will work is a different story. Bitcoin miners -- earning more than $15 billion last year, according to data from The Block Research -- would have to be given incentives to switch. Shifting to Proof of Stake is technologically complex, and it has taken Ethereum years to develop and to test the code necessary for the change. Perhaps more importantly, many Bitcoin diehards are adamant against changing the system created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or group credited with developing the software.

“I’d put the chance of Bitcoin ever moving to PoS at exactly 0%,” said Chris Bendiksen, a Bitcoin researcher at CoinShares and one of the world’s leading experts on Bitcoin mining. “There is no appetite among Bitcoiners to destroy the security of the protocol by making such a move.”

[mk4]

Goodluck convincing the community that's pretty much the biggest PoS critics, to hardfork their chain into the thing they're most critical about lmao. It's like convincing Snoop Dogg to stop smoking weed.

[TheNineClub]

A group of people are going to campaign for a change in how Bitcoin works.

They will buy ads in mainstream media publications to spread some FUD about Bitcoin's proof of work.

Chris Larsen, who founded his own altcoin 2012, is going to be one of the people funding this campaign:

Larsen said Bitcoin’s power consumption issue could be fixed via a soft or a hard fork -- both changing the network’s code to make Bitcoin less power hungry. A soft fork would preserve Bitcoin as a single blockchain. A hard fork would split Bitcoin into two separate networks, one supporting miners and the other running different code -- perhaps Proof of Stake.

The campaign believes that about 50 key miners, crypto exchanges and core developers have the power to change Bitcoin’s code.

But of course, Bitcoin will just continue independent of this campaign:

Whether the campaign will work is a different story. Bitcoin miners -- earning more than $15 billion last year, according to data from The Block Research -- would have to be given incentives to switch. Shifting to Proof of Stake is technologically complex, and it has taken Ethereum years to develop and to test the code necessary for the change. Perhaps more importantly, many Bitcoin diehards are adamant against changing the system created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or group credited with developing the software.

“I’d put the chance of Bitcoin ever moving to PoS at exactly 0%,” said Chris Bendiksen, a Bitcoin researcher at CoinShares and one of the world’s leading experts on Bitcoin mining. “There is no appetite among Bitcoiners to destroy the security of the protocol by making such a move.”

Don't know, from a technical standpoint, if those things are possible (but I am sure the people campaigning for it know that), but those types of changes will have to be addressed if we expect mass adoption. The idea that things could technologically and ideologically stay the same is wishful thinking and even pessimistic thinking that this system can't get any better or be improved on. If that's really the case, than it's not a good system, to begin with.

[pooya87]

In other words they are now admitting that they will be spending money to spread FUD whereas all these years they have been doing the same exact thing without admitting it.

Goodluck convincing the community that's pretty much the biggest PoS critics, to hardfork their chain into the thing they're most critical about lmao.

Don't underestimate the power of brainwash. PoS wasn't created yesterday but the brainwash did which is why we keep seeing it come up every day for the past year or so.

Hear is the leading propagandist spreading misinformation trying to fool people into accepting his own shitcoin's fork to PoS is a good thing: https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/11/06/pos2020.html
Why? It's simple him and his foundation own about 72 million ether which they premined and is worth $246 billion. In PoW they can not make any money from those premined coins without selling them, that means it is worth $0 for them right now. However, in PoS they don't need to sell any coins, they will be paid ONLY because they own the premined coins and can sell that reward aka money-out-of-thin-air without losing their 100% control over the network.

Don't stop fighting the propaganda; https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5387588.0
PoS is a failed idea from 2012 that was proven to be flawed and useless 10 years ago.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Nothing will come out of this, or maybe just another alt as BSV and the BCH claiming to be the true green Bitcoin. Probably just a new way for a quick buck for some people selling the news, and probably many newbies will be fooled by this new "green" bitcoin but the original idea won't change any time soon as it has proven as the best solution by now.

[Wind_FURY]

A group of people are going to campaign for a change in how Bitcoin works.

They will buy ads in mainstream media publications to spread some FUD about Bitcoin's proof of work.

A campaign? What kind of campaign? Obviously those people don't know how Bitcoin works. Make a BIP, and post it in the developer's mailing list, then see how the far proposal goes.

Chris Larsen, who founded his own altcoin 2012, is going to be one of the people funding this campaign:

Larsen said Bitcoin’s power consumption issue could be fixed via a soft or a hard fork -- both changing the network’s code to make Bitcoin less power hungry. A soft fork would preserve Bitcoin as a single blockchain. A hard fork would split Bitcoin into two separate networks, one supporting miners and the other running different code -- perhaps Proof of Stake.

The campaign believes that about 50 key miners, crypto exchanges and core developers have the power to change Bitcoin’s code.

The Ripple CEO? He's a mere shitcoin swindler, not a coder.

Plus "50 key miners, crypto exchanges and core developers have the power to change Bitcoin’s code"? They forgot about BIP-148.

[jackg]

If they're expecting investors to care about the planet, they're going to be quite disappointed.

And sure, a bunch of mining pools and a few people could have the power to change how the network mines but who's going to incentivise them to not want to make money and give up their infrastructure.

The moment they mention exchanges having to be involved in changing the protocol is probably the moment we can assume they don't actually know how they're going to do it without widespread adoption of a shitcoin that can replace bitcoin (and enough have already failed at that).

[pakhitheboss]

I have always believed that considering the greater purpose of Bitcoin the energy issue is just nothing. These FUD's are a well planned propoganda and not just stupidity. It is a bit late now for them to come with such FUD. Bitcoin's growth is inevitable now.

[yazher]

Nothing will come out of this, or maybe just another alt as BSV and the BCH claiming to be the true green Bitcoin. Probably just a new way for a quick buck for some people selling the news, and probably many newbies will be fooled by this new "green" bitcoin but the original idea won't change any time soon as it has proven as the best solution by now.

As usual, they won't become successful because they are only copycats of the original and there are lots of them who were created by those fools who wanted to get themselves some chunk of the popularity of bitcoin today. some of them went to invest their own stories like cult leaders just to get the investor's attention which lead to many investment losses because their promises weren't real and they've just hidden the fact that they are only creating this coin to pull the investors to their coin which doesn't really work till now.

[buwaytress]

If Larsen's justifications ever had viable merit, he'd have at least a little success with his own alt, or proven it with another alt in the many years since then.

Not saying PoS is entirely crap (I suppose it security weren't a major factor and you do want a blockchain just for playing games or messing with nfts that won't ever be worth anything, it's a brilliant way to use blockchain without worrying about 51%) but as pointed out, there simply isn't enough incentive to switch over. Not for the miners, certainly not for the users.

Cost benefit, people keep forgetting. Yes Bitcoin cost of maintenance is high. But what comes close to matching the benefit?

[avikz]

Goodluck convincing the community that's pretty much the biggest PoS critics, to hardfork their chain into the thing they're most critical about lmao. It's like convincing Snoop Dogg to stop smoking weed.

That's not their intention for sure. They certainly don't want to convince the crypto community or the bitcoin miners. They want to create a an opinion among the common mass who doesn't have much idea about bitcoin. It's easier to create a perspective in your kind, when you don't have an in-depth idea of the main concept. It's a psychological game they want to play.

I wonder who are funding such FUD campaigns from behind! I won't be surprised if I see some banker's name there!

[Zilon]

I see this as a wasted effort already. This is similar to creating paid ads on mainstream media production to spread FUD to reduce the number of miners who confirm transactions on the blockchain. If there is any chance for bitcoin to switch from proof of work to proof of stake it will require a steady upgrade on the protocol software which will result some how on a split of protocol.

This FUD will only make sense in the minds of crypto novices or investors who are limited in knowledge about how the entire system works. I think the crypto communities should treat this as one of the numerous scandals against bitcoin so that it gets no implementation

[davis196]

The idea of changing the code of Bitcoin,in order to make it "less power hungry" has been shared multiple times across the years,and yet nobody hasn't been proposing any working solution.
I have nothing against a hardfork/softfork that will split the BTC blockchain and create some kind of "EcoBitcoin" or "Bitcoin Green".
It's pretty easy to predict that the Bitcoin Core blockchain and the Bitcoin Core community will remain united and a small number of altcoin seekers and environmentalists will support this "Bitcoin Green" PoS shitcoin.
Let them have what they want.They will leave the BTC community and probably stop with their FUD against Bitcoin.
I've always thought,that the freedom to choose between multiple options is what makes the crypto industry so appealing,even though 99% of the altcoins are shitcoins.

[tyz]

The joke of the matter is that a German newspaper reports today that behind the campaign is a millionaire financier who has provided a total of 5 million Euros for these ads. The statement of the activists is that the probability for the code change is low. They could have done so much better with the 5 million than to support a campaign that will not succeed anyway. One can really start to doubt the intelligence of these so-called climate activists.

[vv181]

They will buy ads in mainstream media publications ~.

Citing to Theguardian, they will run digital ads across "Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Marketwatch, Politico, Facebook and other publications".

Looks like they are aggressively attempting to spread the FUD to the mainstream people, which considering how cryptocurrencies exposure are recently blooming, there is a high chance that a lot of people got disinformed. In another hand, while inspecting their website(cleanupbitcoin.com), I couldn't be more irritated.

We know a basic software code change would reduce Bitcoin’s
energy use by 99.9%.
If only 30 people — the key miners, exchanges, and core developers who build and contribute to Bitcoin’s code — agreed to reinvent proof-of-work mining or move to a low-energy protocol, Bitcoin would stop polluting the planet. So why isn’t Bitcoin changing its code?

The funny thing is how could they ignore all nodes that contribute to the Bitcoin network. And the wording of "basic code change" is terrible, IMO. What is so basic about reinventing POW or migrating to another protocol, there are no such things as simple basic code change. And solely reconsidering it only for environmental concern wouldn't help it either. I think if the campaign gains any traction, there might be a new upcoming continuous FUD coming at Bitcoin.

[so98nn]

I dont think the coin which is giving us more than $15 billion in rewards every year for mining work alone will go down just because of few FUD campaigns which are planned one. The FUD like this will never ever hamper the ecosystem of bitcoin which is built with excellent code, big aspirations behind the blockchain and infotech vision ahead of all!

The mining is still OK with what it does to the climate. I think they forgetting how a war which is live currently is hampering the climate and how they should be creating campaigns for the same and not against the Bitcoin. Bullshits!

[LogitechMouse]

Hmmm what can I say to them? Maybe a Good Luck is enough.
I don't think that they will be successful to change the code of Bitcoin from POW to POS. They can create a fork (like most are doing) but still Bitcoin will be on the top. Whatever FUD's they might create, I still believe that investors are more intelligent now. Still Good Luck with their agenda but it will be unsuccessful.

[thecodebear]

ha yeah i saw an article about this earlier and i was just shaking my head. I like how they act like all it would take to change this is just a simple code change haha. As though Bitcoin is just some centralized piece of software. Anyways, the PoW mining fud has been very strong the past year and it will no doubt continue as long as people stay uneducated about Bitcoin. This anti-PoW advertising campaign only serves to spread that un-education.

[pooya87]

Citing to Theguardian, they will run digital ads across "Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Marketwatch, Politico, Facebook and other publications".

Looks like they are aggressively attempting to spread the FUD to the mainstream people,

They've been publishing FUD articles in all the major media outlets already. Publishing ads on top of that is not really a big improvement in my opinion since ads are mostly ignored or blocked by ad blockers

which considering how cryptocurrencies exposure are recently blooming, there is a high chance that a lot of people got disinformed.

What has been a big concern is that they are raising legitimate concerns involving cryptocurrencies then they expand those to bitcoin. For example they use the money laundering that is happening in the token market (mainly NFTs these days) then claim bitcoin's sole purpose is also the same.

Unfortunately this is a strategy that you can see in all of their FUD articles and the concern is that people believe such masterfully crafted content that has some traces of truth. To put simply regular people can't distinguish between bitcoin and shitcoins so by giving them facts about shitcoins they convince them bitcoin is the same.

In my opinion, to fight this type of FUD we need to clarify this distinction for newcomers.

[Western_Boris]

They should use all that ad money to actual science and to help shift energy production from coal to green energy and not attack the systems like Bitcoin which do help the green energy production. Bitcoin already makes green nergy more affordable by makind wind energy, water, sun... more affordable, because energy company can get more money of those with bitcoin mining. Because there are always excess energy created by those that does not get used right away so it gets wasted and energy company does not get any money of that wasted energy. Nowdays there can be miners turned on when there are excess energy so it is more affordable to open new green energy.

It is also interesting how Exxon Mobil is making oil drilling more environtally safe by using flare gas for Bitcoin mining instead of burning it to sky to pollute the climate.