Anatoly Yakovenko, one of the founders of Solana, a proof-of-stake blockchain with support for smart contracts, has issued a series of statements criticizing bitcoin’s consensus algorithm. In an interview with CNBC, Yakovenko said bitcoin could lose popularity if it does not move to a share proof consensus algorithm (PoS). Other organizations have also attacked bitcoin, hinting at this change as a possible solution to what some see as shortcomings.
creator Solana believes bitcoin’s “proof-of-work” consensus algorithm will affect its use
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana’s consensus PoS blockchain, gave his opinion on bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm and how it could affect the leading cryptocurrency in the future. In a interview on CNBC, Yakovenko stated that one of the main differences when comparing Solana and bitcoin is the energy efficiency of the former.
On this point, Yakovenko explained:
If you look at Solana’s energy report, Solana spends about two Google searches per transaction. I think that even among proof-of-stake networks it is one of the most efficient networks.”
Yakovenko went on to say that he thinks most of the networks people will use in the future will be based on PoS consensus. Asked about the future of Bitcoin in this context, Yakovenko said:
Unless [Bitcoin] eventually moves to proof-of-stake, no one will use it.
Others want to change the bitcoin code
Yakovenko is not the first to directly criticize energy consumption and the future of Bitcoin as a proof-of-stake network. Since share proof consensus has been used to create several competing networks competing with the two major blockchains (Bitcoin and Ethereum), proof-of-work consensus algorithms have been found to be too inefficient in terms of energy consumption.
Since last year, this thought has gained traction when Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Spacex, commented on the “insane” energy consumption of the Bitcoin network, while suspending the use of Bitcoin as a payment method to purchase Tesla cars.
More recently, other parties have also criticized Bitcoin, suggesting that changing the consensus algorithm could be the key to its sustainability. We are talking about the World Economic Forum, which published a video on April 26 in which it claims that “changing the way bitcoin is encoded could virtually eliminate its environmental impact.”
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