Elon Musk Says Tesla 'Looking At' Other Cryptos That Use Less Than 1% Of Bitcoin's Energy. Which Could Be It?

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Thursday that the automaker “was looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.” In case Musk & Co. are looking for green alternatives to Bitcoin (BTC), they have some cryptocurrencies they can pick and choose from among low-energy consuming coins.

Dogecoin (DOGE): A favorite topic of discussion for Musk, DOGE consumes 0.12 Kilowatt-hour or KWh per transaction. It is the second-least power hungry coin as rated by the technology company TRG Datacenters. As a contrast, BTC consumes 707 KWh and comes at the last place of the list. Ethereum (ETH) consumes 62.56 KWh per transaction. 

See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

The annualized estimated consumption for BTC, according to Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, is 147.79 Terawatt hour or TWh. 

On Tuesday, Musk introduced a poll through his Twitter account asking his followers if they want Tesla to accept DOGE. 78.2% voted in favor, while 21.8% voted against.

At press time, BTC traded 12.12% lower at $50,416.11, ETH traded 8.95% lower at $3,905.84, and DOGE traded 10.17% lower at $0.44.

XRP (XRP): The cryptocurrency associated with Ripple Labs, Inc is the least power-hungry, as per TRG Datacenters. It consumes 0.0079 KWh per transaction. However, XRP has been under a cloud since December after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a lawsuit against Ripple for conducting an unregistered $1.3 billion securities offering. Ripple has managed to score some legal points against the SEC as of last month.

XRP traded 10.99% lower at $1.35 at press time.

Cardano (ADA): With a power consumption of 0.5479 Kwh per transaction, ADA is placed at the third spot in terms of being least power-hungry by TRG Datacenters. Cardano claims to be the first blockchain platform built through peer-reviewed research and has the stated aim to bring about “positive global change.” It was founded by the entrepreneur-mathematician Charles Hoskinson, who also co-founded Ethereum. 

ADA traded 8.37% lower at $1.64 at press time.

See Also: Musk's Dogecoin Army Recruit Gene Simmons Turns Cardano Adherent — Here's Why

Litecoin (LTC): As per TRG Datacenters, LTC consumes 18.522 KWh per transaction. LTC can be merged with DOGE, which has proven to be a boon for Litecoin miners. Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus singled out environmental advantages of this type merged mining with a Scrypt coin.

“[Dogecoin] gets the benefits of high hash rate without as significant of a carbon footprint as other Scrypt coins, making it very robust and secure,” said Markus in a conversation with Benzinga in April.

LTC traded 16.16% lower at $322.74 at press time.

See Also: Is Litecoin Slated To Be The Next Crypto Show Stopper?

Average Network Power In MegaWatts For Various Cryptocurrencies As Per Chiapower.Org

“Chia Network’s blockchain (and chia) is intended to be a “green,” eco-friendly alternative to Proof of Work,” claims the whitepaper.

XCH traded 0.21% lower at $1,076.00.

The Suitors Line Up: Proof of Work was the original security system popularized by Bitcoin and involves solving complex mathematical problems using powerful but power-hungry computers. In contrast, Proof of Stake has emerged as an alternative; this system is based on pre-existing coin ownership. Now that Tesla is searching for an alternative to Bitcoin, supposedly for environmental reasons, several contenders will vie to become the automaker’s coin of choice. The race is already on as can be gauged from these tweets by Justin Sun, the founder of Tron (TRX), and Doge co-founder Markus.

What coin will Musk end up picking as Tesla's coin of choice of payments? Your guess is as good as ours.

Read Next: Elon Musk 'Sending Dogecoin Up, Bitcoin Down' Like He's 'Wizard Of Oz,' Says Portnoy. 'This Is Bullsh*t'

Posted In: CryptocurrencyNewsMarketsTrading IdeasBitcoincardanoChia Networkdogecoinelectric vehiclesElon MuskEVsLitecoinrippleXRP
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