In the world of digital currencies, the focus is shifting towards more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Some of the leading green cryptocurrencies that are in the crypto market:
Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a blockchain platform for smart contracts. Cardano’s ADA token is one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Its unique selling point is its commitment to peer-reviewed scientific research as building blocks of its updates. The platform has been designed in separate layers, which separates the ledger of account values from the reason why values are moved from one account to the other. This separation is intended to make smart contracts safer.
Cardano is a decentralized Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain designed to be more efficient than blockchains that rely on Proof-of-Work (PoW). Similar to Ethereum, Cardano's PoS uses a consensus mechanism and rewards cryptocurrency for work done to review and expand the historical blockchain record. Cardano was founded in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson and launched in 2017.
Homepage: Cardano
Stellar (XLM)
Stellar is an open-source, decentralized protocol for digital currency to fiat currency transfers which allows cross-border transactions between any pair of currencies. The Stellar protocol is supported by a nonprofit, the Stellar Development Foundation. Stellar aims to connect banks, payment systems and individuals quickly and reliably.
Lumens (XLM) is the native currency of the Stellar network. Lumen is the only token that does not require an issuer or line of trust, and is used to pay all transaction fees and rent, and to meet minimum balance requirements on the network. Stellar was launched in 2014.
Homepage: Stellar
Polkadot (DOT)
Polkadot is a multi-chain platform that allows different blockchains to interoperate in a shared security model. By enabling these blockchains to operate together, Polkadot aims to create a more scalable and customizable framework for developers.
Polkadot is an open-source project that implements a new, high-performance, permissionless blockchain. It operates on a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Polkadot is a modern blockchain platform that offers a unique combination of speed, scalability, and security. Its innovative technology and wide range of use cases make it a promising platform for the future of decentralized applications and financial services.
Polkadot, which has been praised for having its own consensus mechanism, the nominated PoS, has one of the lowest power consumptions. It also has the lowest total annual carbon emissions compared to several PoS blockchains. Cryptoscientists discovered that Polkadot had a total annual power consumption that was 28 times less than Solana's.
The development of Polkadot already started in 2016 when Gavin Wood (co-founder of Ethereum) wrote a whitepaper for the idea. Together with Thiel Fellow, Robert Habermeier and Peter Czaban, they launched today's version in 2020.
Homepage: Polkadot
SolarCoin (SLR)
SolarCoin is a digital currency linked to the production of solar energy. Is a cryptocurrency backed by two forms of proof of work. One is the traditional cryptographic proof of work associated with digital currency. The other proof of work is a third-party verified, meter reading of solar energy production. SolarCoin is claimed by individuals living in homes with Solar Energy panels on their roof or large solar electricity farms.
SolarCoin claims to be one of the most eco-friendly cryptocurrencies. SolarCoin was launched in 2014.
Homepage: SolarCoin
Green Bitcoin (GBTC)
Green Bitcoin is a distinctive version of Bitcoin that merges Bitcoin’s legacy with the environmentally friendly Ethereum blockchain. It introduces a sustainable staking model, termed Gamified Green Staking, which allows for the earning of passive income. The primary aim of Green Bitcoin is to provide a gaming environment and community rewards for its token holders.
The user base of Green Bitcoin primarily consists of individuals who are aware of the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and have a keen interest in sustainable and eco-friendly blockchain solutions.
Green Bitcoin is designed to cater to environmentally conscious individuals and organizations. These entities are interested in participating in the cryptocurrency space, but they do not want to contribute to the high energy consumption typically associated with traditional cryptocurrency mining.
While Green Bitcoin shares the name ‘Bitcoin’ with other cryptocurrencies, it stands out due to its unique features and uses. Unlike Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV, which were developed to address Bitcoin’s scalability issues, Green Bitcoin is an effort to create a more environmentally friendly version of Bitcoin. Despite their differences, all these cryptocurrencies maintain the principle of decentralization, offering a novel method for conducting transactions that is not governed by any central authority. This makes them an appealing choice for many users. Green Bitcoin was launched in 2024.
Homepage: Green Bitcoin
Bitgreen (BITG)
Bitgreen is an innovation platform that builds solutions for sustainability, impact and decarbonization. Bitgreen was founded with a mission to provide an energy-efficient alternative to Bitcoin and to create a scalable, sustainable tool for incentivizing socially positive behavior. BitGreen uses the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, which is a far less energy-intensive method of maintaining the network.
Like Bitcoin, bitgreen also has a fixed supply of 21 million tokens. It is both fast and energy efficient thanks to its PoS, which replaced bitcoin's energy-intensive proof-of-work algorithm. Bitgreen was launched in 2018.
Homepage: Bitgreen
