5 Coins to Buy if You're Into Green Cryptocurrency Investing

Cryptocurrency is widely believed to be the future of finance, with the decentralized nature of coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum presenting significant security benefits. The investment opportunity also has the potential to be highly lucrative, but there is a massive obstacle in the way – eco-friendliness.

The vast majority of existing cryptocurrencies are mined through GPU processing power, a process that requires vast amounts of energy. With crypto farms worldwide using thousands upon thousands of energy-guzzling computer rigs, this presents a serious problem – cryptocurrency is currently unsustainable for the environment.

However, there is good news – green cryptocurrencies are beginning to arrive, presenting environmentally friendly solutions for the innovative finance structure. So, what exactly is a green cryptocurrency? How do they work, and which are the best ones? Let's take a look.

What are green cryptocurrencies?

Green cryptocurrencies do precisely what they suggest. They are cryptocurrencies that rely on infrastructure that is significantly more efficient in terms of energy consumption. Their farming processes are generally considered more sustainable, with electric consumption being minimal compared to traditional crypto.

Ultimately, green cryptocurrencies aim to reduce the usage of unsustainable greenhouse gases such as carbon through various methods. Let's take a look at a few of the most energy-efficient cryptocurrencies and how they achieve them. 

Cardano

Cardano is one of the most popular examples of green crypto coins. Essentially, the cryptocurrency operates based on a blockchain that uses a system known as 'proof of stake.' As opposed to the traditional 'proof of work' mechanism used by Bitcoin and other cryptos, proof of stake works through the random allocation of coins to users, who must put up coins for collateral. 

This essentially means that the cryptocurrency does not require enormous networks of computing power to operate simultaneously, eliminating the reliance on mass electricity usage. The cryptocurrency is available on several crypto brokers, including Coinmotion, Revolut, and Binance.

Ripple

Ripple is considered the best green cryptocurrency by many, taking an alternative approach to Cardano. As opposed to changing the 'proof of work' mechanism, the company has instead formed an investment partnership with Nelnet Renewable Energy, which focuses on producing clean energy through solar panels. 

While this does not eliminate the massive amounts of electricity needed to mine the crypto, it shifts the energy use from environmentally unfriendly carbon usage to clean solar power. This source is essentially infinite and does not release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The coin can be purchased through the eToro broker, amongst others.

NANO

Next up is Nano, a green cryptocurrency that uses yet another unique solution. The coin achieves its green status by using a significantly more lightweight consensus protocol than traditional cryptos, known as Open Representative Voting (ORV). 

The company claims that this protocol minimizes energy consumption throughout the mining process by maximizing the efficiency of electricity use. An example of cryptocurrency markets offering NANO includes Kraken.

IOTA

Another addition to the network of green crypto coins is IOTA, presenting yet another solution to the environmental impact of blockchain technology through a technology known as "Tangle." 

While traditional crypto farms must power enormous quantities of large, energy-hungry computers, much smaller devices maintain the Tangle network. As a result, each device that contributes to the network requires significantly less energy to power it. Several crypto markets, including Gemini, currently offer this cryptocurrency.

TRON

The final best green cryptocurrency on this list is TRON. This non-profit and public blockchain reduces its environmental impact by allowing its users and miners to share applications on the blockchain. 

This essentially means that many TRON users can use the same mining and trading applications powered by the same computer, significantly reducing the amount of energy required to mine and use the currency. TRON can currently be traded via Binance, amongst other exchanges.

Conclusion

Overall, the unsustainability of traditional blockchains presents significant environmental obstacles for cryptocurrencies. Fortunately, there are many solutions. We have explored only five of the best green cryptocurrencies throughout this article, and every solution is unique in its way. 

Cryptocurrency presents a highly lucrative investment opportunity, but with nations worldwide putting greenhouse gas mitigation solutions into place, greener options present themselves as more sustainable and realistic investments. 

Whether it's through unique "proof of stake" blockchain solutions or minimizing the amount of power required for traditional "proof of work" mechanisms, it is clear that there are plenty of ways that cryptocurrency farms can do better in the future.