Metalpha Technology Holding (NASDAQ: MATH) partnered with the Litecoin Foundation in support of research institutions developing hedging solutions and sustainable mining for Litecoin’s ecosystem.
Metalpha and Litecoin Foundation intend to work with universities and research institutions on initiatives involving sustainable blockchain innovations, and education around Litecoin’s network. It’s also present to improve network awareness, adoption and scalability.
The partnership’s research will include product development, promoting renewable energy use and energy efficiency in mining, and lowering carbon emissions from blockchain mining in the Litecoin Network. It aims ultimately to support crypto miners with hedging products against market risk, while lowering cryptomining’s environmental impact.
Also, hedging is a risk management strategy employed to offset losses in investments by taking an opposite position in a related asset.
Litecoin. Image by Jorge Franganillo from wikimedia commons.
“It is a great pleasure to be partnering up with Litecoin Foundation to develop sophisticated derivative products as well as promoting quality public education on green mining to further the mission of building a fully decentralized, open source, global payment network,” ssaid Adrian Wang, Founder and CEO of Metalpha, in a statement on Friday.
The variety and potential for Litecoin’s environmental impact is much the same as Bitcoin’s. The environmental impact of any proof-of-work consensus mechanism depends on the source of electricity used. If miners are using electricity from fossil fuels, then there will be an uptick in greenhouse gasses and climate change. If the miners use renewable sources like hydroelectricity or solar, then the impact will be lessened.
Mitigating the effect of environmental impact has been on the agenda for a handful of companies. Some, like DMG Blockchain (TSXV: DMGI), rely on hydroelectric power. It has also formed mining collectives with other companies to reduce their respective carbon footprints.
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Metalpha and Litecoin to work with universities
“Metalpha brings rich experience and product design to Litecoin’s ecosystem and we look forward to working together as we continue to build a secure and reliable infrastructure for both Litecoin and the broader crypto industry, while at the same time focusing on research, education and environmental initiatives that are important for sustainability,” said Alan Austin, Managing Director of Litecoin Foundation.
Litecoin is essentially the same code as Bitcoin with only a few tweaks. It uses the same consensus mechanism as Bitcoin, but without Bitcoin’s scale. It presently generates 12.5 LTC every 2.5 minutes (compared to Bitcoin, which produces 6.25 BTC every 10). But it doesn’t cost as much to mine Litecoin, and the price of buying one is a fraction of Bitcoin’s.
Miners get paid in LTC, which they turn around and sell on the market to cover costs and turn profits.
According to the Litecoin network’s statistics, as of September 2021, the network’s estimated annual electricity consumption is around 3.92 TWh (terawatt-hours), which is equivalent to approximately 0.18 per cent of the total global electricity consumption. It’s not exactly Bitcoin’s rate of energy consumption, which at 121 terawatt-hours eclipsed the country of Argentina in 2021.
The price of one Litecoin right now is $91.46.
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