Green cryptocurrency mining demonstrated
Energy Web and research laboratory Protocol Labs have reported showcasing an open-source solution for decentralised renewable purchasing by crypto miners.
The demonstration involved the use of the Energy Web Zero app by six miners on Protocol Labs’ cryptocurrency-powered decentralised storage marketplace Filecoin to purchase verifiable renewable energy from 3Degrees.
In the demonstration, the renewable energy purchases were recorded in Filrep, a reputation system used to store data on the Filecoin network.
Integrating renewable energy data from EW Zero into Filerep allows clients to factor renewables into their decision when choosing a storage provider. Each record on Filrep points to a verification page in EW Zero, showing where the energy was produced, documenting its source, and providing an attestation certificate proving ownership of the corresponding renewable energy credits.
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“We are excited to develop open-source decentralised technologies to support investments in renewable energy and track energy use throughout the supply chain,” said Alan Ransil, the technical lead for Filecoin Green at Protocol Labs.
“By serving as an early adopter of these technologies, the decentralised network of Filecoin storage providers will set an example for both crypto miners and other industries to follow.”
Protocol Labs and Energy Web intend over the next year to create a package of open source solutions for all Filecoin storage providers to search for and purchase renewable energy on EW Zero.
The full cross-chain solution to be deployed in mid-2022 will create a unique decentralised identifier on the EW Chain for each Filecoin storage provider who chooses to participate and link storage providers’ renewable energy purchases to their respective identifiers.
This linking of a given Filecoin storage provider’s identifier with verified green Filecoin mining will enable that storage provider to reflect their zero-carbon status in the Filecoin reputation system, and allow energy attributes to be traced from client to storage provider to individual renewable energy projects.
The underlying technical architecture also will allow the solution to be extended to miners in other ecosystems such as Green Hashrate, which is being developed to track and verify green Bitcoin mining.
The demonstration is in support of the Crypto Climate Accord, which was launched in April by Energy Web and others to develop solutions and best practices to decarbonise cryptocurrency mining.
Filecoin is intended as a decentralized alternative to traditional cloud storage.
