PayPal‘s Blockchain Research Group proposes giving sustainable energy miners more Bitcoin to decrease Bitcoin mining’s environmental effect.

The concept targets Bitcoin’s energy-intensive proof-of-work technology. Set aside more Bitcoin incentives for “green miners” that use renewable energy and have unique cryptographic hashes called “green keys.”

The green miners’ multi-sig wallet would contain extra Bitcoin only accessible with green keys. These transactions would have cheaper costs to attract miners and promote greener Bitcoin mining.

Critics of the plan say many miners are already switching to greener techniques without incentives and worry about non-green miners processing these transactions if low fees are not discouraged. Smart contracts and the Lightning Network demand more confidence.

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