Software for the Ethereum blockchain has been overhauled, drastically reducing its energy usage, its inventor and co-founder tweeted on Thursday.
The new system will use 99.95 per cent less energy, according to the Ethereum Foundation. To its proponents, the upgrade represents a major advantage as Ethereum seeks to surpass rival blockchain bitcoin.
Most blockchains devour large amounts of energy and have come under fire from environmentalists and some investors. Before the software upgrade, which is known as Merge, a single transaction on Ethereum used as much power as an average US household uses in a week, according to researcher Digiconomist.
The overhaul has changed how transactions on the Ethereum blockchain occur and how ether tokens, the second-largest crypto coin after bitcoin, are created.
Ethereum has moved from a โproof of workโ system, in which energy-hungry computers validate transactions by solving complex maths problems, to a โproof of stakeโ system, where individuals and companies act as validators, using their ether as collateral, to win newly created tokens.
โHappy merge all,โ inventor Vitalik Buterin said in a tweet. โThis is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem.โ
The cryptocurrency ether was little changed at $1,633 as of 0713 GMT.
