Greenpeace Unveils ‘Skull of Satoshi’ to Spark Debate on Bitcoin’s Environmental Impact; Creator clarifies it ‘wasn’t meant to be anti-Bitcoin’ – News Bitcoin News

Greenpeace, the well-known environmental organization, has unveiled the “Skull of Satoshi”, an art installation intended to spark debate about the impact of Bitcoin on the environment. The 11-foot-long skull was constructed with electronic waste material and features chimneys and Bitcoin logos. However, its creator, Benjamin Von Wong, explained that it was not intended to be an anti-Bitcoin symbol.

Greenpeace unveils ‘Skull of Satoshi’ art installation

Greenpeace, the international environmental organization, unveiled the “Skull of Satoshi” on March 23, an 11-foot-long art installation intended to criticize Bitcoin’s effect on the environment. The structure, which was created by Benjamin Von Wong, has distinctive elements included to spark a debate about how destructive bitcoin mining can supposedly be.

One of these is the presence of smoke stacks, which symbolize the use of fossil fuels to produce the energy that serves to power the Bitcoin network via mining. The skull also has hundreds of protruding cables and bitcoin logos in its eyes. According to Greenpeace, it was made with e-waste material, to symbolize the computers used to validate Bitcoin transactions.

Greenpeace’s aim is to raise awareness of the energy consumption of Bitcoin, and how this can be changed via a change in the code of the cryptocurrency. Greenpeace’s Rolf Skar explained:

Our skull design acts as a powerful symbol, urging financial institutions to use their influence to advocate for a code change that could reduce Bitcoin’s power consumption by as much as 99%. We cannot afford to extend our dependence on fossil fuels any further.

The Skull of Satoshi will next travel to New York to be part of an “accountability tour”, where Greenpeace will try to encourage financial institutions that use Bitcoin to demand a change in the code of the currency to reduce the effects on climate change.

Benjamin Von Wong clarifies his intention

Benjamin Von Wong, the creator of the Skull of Satoshi, took his opinions to Twitter, clarifying his true intentions with the construction of the installation. Commissioned by Greenpeace, the installation was created with a simplified idea of ​​Bitcoin, Von Wong explained in a Twitter thread on March 25. He stated:

I was led to believe that Bitcoin Mining was a simple black and white problem. I’ve spent my entire career trying to reduce physical waste in the real world, and PoW intuitively felt like a waste. Of course I was wrong.

Further Von Wong declared that the sculpture was never meant to be anti-Bitcoin, but part of his “optimistic hope that Bitcoin could shift away from the unnecessary burning of fossil fuels without losing all the other features that make Bitcoin safe, secure and decentralized.”

What do you think about the Skull of Satoshi and Greenpeace’s campaign to change Bitcoin’s code? Tell us in the comments section below.

Sergio Goschenko

Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist based in Venezuela. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price spike occurred during December 2017. He has a computer engineering background, lives in Venezuela and is influenced by the cryptocurrency boom on a social level, offering a different point of view on crypto success and how it helps the unbanked and underserved.

Image credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Benjamin Von Wong