Bison Trails and Volt Capital bring ‘secure staking’ to Celo network

May 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Celo

“Bison Trails is committed to the growth of the crypto ecosystem and innovative networks like Celo,” said Joe Lallouz, CEO of Bison Trails.

Blockchain infrastructure company Bison Trails has partnered with Volt Capital to allow users of the Celo Network to stake their tokens securely through their mobile devices.

The collaboration sees Bison Trails running a Celo validator node for Volt Capital, thereby allowing Volt Capital’s community to stake the CELO cryptocurrency, earn rewards and help grow the network. Bison Trails’ node infrastructure allows delegators to more easily stake cryptocurrencies.

Volt Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that has set aside $10 million to invest in various cryptocurrency projects focused on the end-user experience. Through its TD Labs subsidiary, Volt Capital has been participating in the Celo Network and running a validator on the platforms since the testnet phase. Celo Network officially graduated to mainnet on May 18.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Bison Trails to offer our community the ability to stake Celo. Bison Trails’ robust infrastructure meets our high benchmark for security, reliability, and uptime, and the team brings invaluable protocol expertise and insights,” said Mohamed Fouda, partner at Volt Capital, adding:

“The Celo community has been steadily growing, and we have been actively working with projects that are developing simple tools to enable better financial engagement with Celo to deliver the long-term vision of the project.”

Prior to the latest crypto market correction, excitement surrounding the Celo Network was on the rise leading into its Donut hard fork. The fork, which took place May 19, promises better gas efficiency, improved interoperability and the ability to connect with several Ethereum tools.

In terms of market performance, Celo is ranked within the top 100 cryptocurrency projects with a total network value of around $724 million.

Bison Trails has provided key infrastructure support for several major cryptocurrencies companies, including Crypto.com and Cosmos. In February 2021, the company launched Global Blockchain Synch, which allows customers to more easily deploy node operations. Polkadot, Kusama, Ethereum, Cosmos and EOS are just some of the main protocols that utilize the service.

Alliance of major firms aims to reduce crypto’s carbon footprint

April 8, 2021 Coin Telegraph

One of the group's long-term goals involves transitioning all of the world’s blockchains to 100% renewable energy by 2025.

A group of more than 20 firms comprising crypto, finance, technology, energy, and non-government organizations has banded together to focus on the environmental impact of cryptocurrency.

In an announcement today, the Crypto Climate Accord — reportedly inspired by the 195-signatory Paris Climate Agreement — said it aims to address the "large and growing energy consumption of cryptocurrency and blockchain, and the climate impact of their energy use." Launched by nonprofits Energy Web Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, the group’s partners include high-profile firms in the crypto space like blockchain-based payments company Ripple, Canadian mining firm Hut 8, digital asset investment firm CoinShares, Ethereum software company Consensys, and others.

"Industries from across the global economy are beginning to decarbonize their operations," said the group. "We can do the same in crypto. We have the opportunity to decarbonize the industry."

Among the Crypto Climate Accord’s long-term goals are transitioning all of the world’s blockchains to be powered by 100% renewable energy by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2025 and developing an open-source accounting standard for measuring emissions from the cryptocurrency industry. The group has also set a target for the entire crypto industry to become carbon net-zero by 2040 — this term refers to a time when human-made carbon emissions can effectively be removed from the atmosphere.

Many fintech and crypto firms have made public pledges for greener initiatives as the environmental impact of digital assets becomes more apparent. Last year, Ripple announced it would be committing to become carbon net-zero by 2030 by partnering with the Energy Web Foundation and investing in carbon-removal technologies.

We’re proud to join the @CryptoClimAcc alongside @energywebx, @UNFCCC, @AIRinnovate, @Consensys, @CoinSharesCo, @RockyMtnInst & more. Together, we can decarbonize all #blockchains! https://t.co/YY5wGX5wkl
— Ripple (@Ripple) April 8, 2021

"The Crypto Climate Accord recognizes that financial technologies — including blockchain and cryptocurrency — are well-positioned to lead global finance’s commitment to a sustainable future," said Ripple in response to the launch today. "Recent studies suggest that now through 2023 are the most critical years of adoption growth for crypto and we know it will be more difficult to 'reverse engineer' a systemic characteristic like sustainability the longer we wait."

Both Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain have received praise for their roles in transforming global finance, but also criticism over the technology’s impact on climate change. The energy required to maintain the Bitcoin network is estimated to consume roughly 95.4 TWh per year, according to data from the Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index — an amount comparable to power consumption of Kazakhstan. Bitcoin also has an annual carbon footprint — 45.34 megatons of carbon dioxide — that rivals Hong Kong’s.

If "decarbonizing the cryptocurrency industry in record time" is the goal of the Crypto Climate Accord, the challenges it faces will be comparable to those of signatories to the Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the Earth from warning more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Reports suggest global carbon dioxide emissions fell by 6.4% last year as many industries were slowed or stopped by the impact of the pandemic. However, this still fell short of the 7.6% cut the United Nations Environment Programme estimated was required to meet the numbers set in the Paris Agreement.

Australians can now exchange solar energy credits for beer with blockchain

March 31, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

Victoria Bitter has partnered with blockchain energy trading platform Power Ledger to allow customers to earn beer with surplus solar energy.

Asahi’s Australian lager beer subsidiary Victoria Bitter has taken a step toward sustainability by allowing customers to earn a pint with solar energy via blockchain.

According to a Wednesday announcement, Victoria Bitter has partnered with major blockchain energy firm Power Ledger to unlock a new program allowing participants to exchange excess solar energy for slabs of beer.

“The only thing better than drinking the Big Cold Beer in the Aussie sun is earning beer while you do it. Plus it’s a real win-win for beer lovers and the environment,” Victoria Bitter’s general manager of marketing Brian Phan said.

The new Solar Exchange program allows customers to track how much beer they have earned based on the number of solar energy credits exchanged with Victoria Bitter. “Every $30 worth of credit can be exchanged for a slab, which is then delivered straight to your door,” the company said in the announcement.

Power Ledger founder Jemma Green explained that their blockchain platform will be responsible for tracking how much power customers feed to the grid. “You can see how many bottles of beer you’ve earned every 30 minutes,” Green said. Using solar credits obtained in the program, Victoria Bitter will re-invest them back into the program or towards the business’ broader sustainability goals.

Power Ledger provides peer-to-peer energy trading services based on blockchain technology. Last year, the firm started rolling out its blockchain-based solar energy platform in Western Australia, allowing users to track energy consumption and sell their surplus solar energy to other residents.

Partnerships