Ethereum blockchain says slashing energy use with software overhaul
Summary
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Sept 15 (Reuters) - Software for the Ethereum blockchain has been overhauled, drastically reducing its energy usage, its inventor and co-founder tweeted on Thursday. Before the software upgrade, which is known as Merge, a single transaction on Ethereum used as much power as an average U.S. 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. read more Ethereum has moved from a "proof of work" system, in which energy-hungry computers validate transactions by solving complex maths problems, to a "proof of stake" system, where individuals and companies act as validators, using their ether as collateral, to win newly created tokens. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru and Elizabeth Howcroft in London; editing by Tom Wilson and Edwina Gibbs
