Sam Bankman-Fried, the 29-year-old billionaire who founded the surging cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX in 2017 has been criticized by crypto fanboys after claiming that bitcoin and ethereum are two main cryptocurrencies that consume the most energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During an interview with CNBC\u2019s SquawkBox<\/em> on July 27, Bankman-Fried indicated that his exchange is committed to carbon neutrality as part of the firm\u2019s broader FTX Climate initiative.<\/p>\n For starters, FTX has donated $1 million that will be used to \u201cpurchase roughly 100k tons of carbon offsets, neutralizing the impact of our blockchain activity\u201d. The Antiqua-based exchange has also given at least $500,000 to other research efforts that are dedicated to mitigating climate change. \u201cI think it\u2019s the responsible thing to do to mitigate \u2014 to the extent you can \u2014 the short-term impact,\u201d Bankman-Fried explained.<\/p>\n He went on to say that bitcoin and ethereum are particularly the largest energy consumers since they both currently use proof-of-stake consensus algorithms:<\/p>\n \u201cI think the other side of this is that when you look at the energy uses of cryptocurrencies, there are only two major cryptocurrencies that have large energy usage \u2014 it’s Bitcoin and Ethereum, now they are the two biggest. The reason is that those are the two proof-of-work (PoW) currencies, and proof-of-work is where all the energy usage comes from.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Bankman-Fried, however, noted that the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is presently on schedule to move from the PoW to a proof-of-stake mechanism that uses less energy, and thus bitcoin will be left as the only \u201cbig energy user\u201d.<\/p>\n Although the FTX CEO did not directly take aim at bitcoin\u2019s energy usage, the cryptocurrency\u2019s devotees swiftly observed the obvious innuendo. <\/p>\n Bitcoin-friendly Canadian restaurant Tahinis told Bankman-Fried:<\/p>\nFTX CEO Draws Ire From Bitcoin Fans<\/strong><\/h2>\n