Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has strongly refuted claims that his company is solely responsible for instigating the now-prevalent anti-bitcoin narrative that is based on the flagship cryptocurrency’s power-hungry mining.
His response comes after CoinShares CSO Meltem Demirors stated that Ripple is responsible for the bitcoin energy consumption FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
Is Ripple The Bitcoin Energy Usage FUD Instigator?
Despite Garlinghouse claiming that he is long bitcoin, he has been lambasting the top crypto’s energy consumption and high transaction fees for years as he praises the XRP cryptocurrency.
During one of his recent interviews, the CEO posited that one BTC transaction consumes energy equivalent to 75 gallons of gasoline. He further indicated that the higher the BTC price surges, the more energy it consumes, and the “carbon footprint continues to scale aggressively”.
Ripple Executive Chairman Chris Larsen has unleashed more aggressive anti-bitcoin backlash, even recently suggesting that bitcoin should switch from the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism if it is to remain relevant. And what’s more, the company has spent more money on lobbying efforts than any other cryptocurrency player. According to Meltem Demirors, this makes Ripple the main culprit.
It’s “Beyond Flattering”: Garlinghouse
Garlinghouse has denied instigating the bitcoin energy usage FUD. In a tweet a few hours ago, the Ripple executive noted that it’s “beyond flattering” Meltem Demirors would suggest that his company is single-handedly responsible for the countless factoids from various people including Elon Musk that bitcoin is highly inefficient from an energy-usage perspective.
It’s beyond flattering that you think Ripple is the puppetmaster behind Elon Musk, countless scientists, governments, crypto enthusiasts and others who have stated the facts about BTC’s energy use….
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 24, 2021https://t.co/csb7bBIGxq
Tesla CEO and self-declared Dogefather Elon Musk is still at the centre of furor over his fascination for joke altcoin Dogecoin (DOGE), which he has adamantly promoted while decrying the mac daddy of crypto and its energy consumption.
The fact is, the accepted narrative within cryptoland for years has been that using renewable energy in BTC mining nullifies the noxious talking point that bitcoin mining has catastrophic effects on the environment owing to the massive carbon footprint.
That said, Elon Musk concurred with Twitter’s Jack Dorsey that bitcoin incentivizes green energy usage a few weeks after Tesla adopted bitcoin. It still does not make any sense why he suddenly changed his stance and vilified bitcoin as an energy guzzler and even halted BTC payments at Tesla.
