World Earth Day 2022: Crypto fundraising platform Pledge launches carbon offset project

livemint.com:

In an apparent bid to commemorate World Earth Day, Pledge, a crypto fundraising platform for non-profits today announced the launch of its patent-pending carbon offset initiative, where every crypto transaction made will support verified carbon offset projects.

The mining process connected to how cryptocurrency is logged on the blockchain uses significant energy and contributes to global carbon emissions.

Therefore, PledgeCrypto was inspired to commission the award-winning environmental consulting firm, Three Squares Inc, to conduct a cryptocurrency environmental impact assessment to quantify the carbon emissions of cryptocurrency transactions made on the PledgeCrypto platform, the company said in a statement issued here.

"At Pledge, we fundamentally believe that unlocking crypto donations will provide an abundant new source of funding for nonprofits around the globe, but the process needs to be done in a sustainable way," said James Citron, CEO of Pledge.

“Inspired by our core values of care and community, we wanted to respond to environmental concerns about crypto, which is why we are proud to lead with the first-of-its-kind patent-pending invention to ensure that every crypto transaction through Pledge will support UNverified projects. This ensures that PledgeCrypto will not only be the most accessible way for donors to donate their digital assets and for nonprofits to receive them, but also in the most environmentally conscious way in the industry," he added.

Eight of the most used cryptocurrencies were evaluated in-depth to quantify the emissions associated with a single transaction. This in-depth analysis factored in the total estimated energy of the cryptocurrency, matched with published recent transaction