Ripple published a commemorative report about the Earth Day anniversary, briefly explaining the sustainability of various currencies and their environmental impacts, showcasing XRP as the most eco-friendly.
The San Francisco-based startup explained that excessive printing of paper money is not sustainable over time. They emphasized that excessive deforestation and the use of various elements necessary for the production of banknotes has serious consequences for the environment.
As an example, Ripple says “It’s estimated that the average lifespan of a $5 bill is only 16 months” before they are taken out of circulation and reprinted.
Likewise, physical coins also have their share in the world’s pollution. The mining of metals and the energy costs involved in manufacturing new coins also make this method detrimental to society. Ripple explains that at the end of the day, the greenest alternative for the traditional banking system relies on debit and credit cards.
Despite being made of plastic, cards are less harmful to the environment because they have a longer lifespan —almost 8 years until expiration— and do not carry the same production or raw material costs as traditional coins, causing less environmental damage.
Cryptocurrencies are just better currencies
…But not all cryptocurrencies will help the environment.
Focusing on the two most widely adopted cryptos, Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ripple noted that PoW mining —the process of adding transaction records to the general ledger called the Blockchain— is required for extraction, which carries high energy and electricity consumption; “the cost of producing one coin could power almost four U.S. homes for a day”.
Ripple noted that unlike other currencies, XRP does not need that massive amount of energy to circulate so it can be “one of the most sustainable forms of currency available”.
“Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, XRP is not a mined digital asset. Every unit of currency that exists now has already been created … XRP is an incredibly efficient and sustainable form of currency”
Even though the Ripple shot could be seen as an XRP promotion tactic, it is yet another indicator of why cryptocurrencies should be more adopted worldwide as they cause less damage to the environment than traditional fiat production.
XRP is currently trading at $0.195 and has not yet been able to recover from the crash of 2018.
Despite Ripple’s efforts to encourage its adoption, the token closed in 2019 as The Worst-Performing Altcoin in the Top 10 by market cap, a trend that continued during Q1 of 2020.
