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- CoinShares’ Meltem Demirors accuses Ripple of being behind the Bitcoin energy use FUD.
- Brad Garlinghouse has objected to the claim, saying it’s beyond flattering.
The past few weeks have seen intensive debate in regards to the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining. With Bitcoin being a highly speculative asset, its value has enormously been affected with the entire industry feeling the impact. The question of who is behind the energy FUD has resulted in a heated argument between Bary Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, Meltem Demirors, CSO of Coinshares, and Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Lab.
The head and tail of the argument
Over the weekend, Silbert got the entire crypto fraternity thinking. This was after he made an ambiguous claim that a single company masterminded the Bitcoin energy FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt).
What if there was one company that was behind most of the bitcoin energy usage FUD? Now THAT would make for a sensational story for somebody to write…
Demirors, in a reply, mentioned Ripple as the orchestrator. Also, she accused them of spending the most in the last three years lobbying.
starts with rip
ends with ple
🤦🏾♀️
they also spent the most on lobbying the last 3 years… 🥴 https://t.co/ZBkeo9xoHr
— Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem) May 22, 2021
Garlinghouse vehemently objected to the statement, claiming he finds it beyond flattering to be mentioned as the chief planner behind the FUD.
It’s beyond flattering that you think Ripple is the puppet master behind Elon Musk, countless scientists, governments, crypto enthusiasts, and others who have stated the facts about BTC’s energy use.
The Ripple CEO is known for attacking Bitcoin on the ground of energy consumption, stretching as far back as 2017. In one of his earliest comments on the subject, he said Bitcoin uses as much as 4,000 times more energy than a credit card. In addition, he mentioned that Bitcoin costs 200,000 times more than an XRP transaction.
Garlinghouse emphasized this in a recent interview with CNN. He said a single Bitcoin transaction can be equated to 75 gallons of gasoline. He later clarified that his intention is not to campaign for the ban on Bitcoin. Instead, he intends to get people to collectively understand Proof-of-Work’s carbon footprint. Interestingly, Bitcoin’s enormous carbon footprint was mentioned by Ripple in their preliminary response to the lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other Ripple executives went hard on Bitcoin
Chris Larsen, ex-Ripple CEO is also known to have shown disagreement about how Bitcoin works. He recently said the asset should get rid of its PoW consensus mechanism to stay relevant. Just recently, Ripple CTO David Shwartz heavily criticized a white paper published by Ark Investment and Square Inc. that explains how Bitcoin incentivizes green energy adoption.
Saying Bitcoin incentivizes the development of green power is like saying gas guzzlers incentivize the development of electric cars. The problem with growing clean power is not that there is not enough power demand.
Despite the ongoing accusation, Garlinghouse is known to have said on record that they have the tools to make crypto renewable and reach its full potential.
We have the tools to make crypto 100% renewable AND reach its full potential. Let’s focus on the solutions to change the opinion of Janet Yellen, Bill Gates, and countless others who have pointed out concerns about energy usage instead of accusing me of FUD… 4/4
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) April 5, 2021
Was BlackRock behind the Tesla about-turn?
BlackRock, a company that has 50 million Tesla shares, has also been accused by Ark Invest of being behind the sudden reversal of Tesla’s Bitcoin payment. Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said:
I believe what happened is after he took a position on Bitcoin, he [Elon Musk] got pushback from institutional shareholders like BlackRock. You’ve got Larry Fink beating the drum on climate change.
