Here are ten eco-friendly cryptocurrencies to watch out for in 2022

• Mining and transacting cryptocurrency have been heavily criticised for having heavy costs in terms of electricity usage, and thus, the environment.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum are facing competition from newer coins that are developing more eco-friendly ways for cryptocurrencies to operate.
• Here’s a quick look at the ten cryptocurrencies that took strides towards being environmentally conscious.

The environmental impact of crypto activity will be one of the key factors to be tracked this year. Global corporations are now fighting climate change, and industries are trying to reduce environmental impact. Yet, studies showed Bitcoin mining alone drew more power than entire countries, possibly tripped national power grids, and produced large quantities of electronic waste.

Developers of the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, scrambled to solve what they could and make upgrades, so that they would guzzle less energy. In fact, Ethereum is now on the road to migrate to an eco-friendly method of securing itself, and reduce power consumption. This helps Ethereum avoid losing ground to other major cryptocurrencies such as Solana, Cardano and Polkadot — often referred to as ‘Ethereum Killers’.

A major reason for cryptocurrency guzzling energy is the way their blockchain is secured. When secured with proof-of-work, a lot of computing power is expended in maintaining the integrity of the decentralised blockchain. However, other currencies have come up with solutions, including proof-of-stake (PoS) as an alternative way of securely processing cryptocurrency transactions and adding them to the blockchain.

As a result, new and existing eco-friendly cryptocurrencies received a boost in visibility and usage. They span the spectrum, with solutions ranging from PoS to more efficient mechanisms – all in a pursuit of achieving more while consuming less electricity.

Here are ten eco-friendly cryptocurrencies that gained attention for trying to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint: