Axie Infinity has created an environmentally friendly alternative to mint and trade its NFTs: Ronin Network.
Popular blockchain game Axie Infinity, which has gained millions of fans worldwide for its Play to Earn mechanics, has been praised as a role model when it comes to caring for the environment.
Energy efficiency and environmental protection is one of the main current topics discussed within the crypto industry. Blockchains like Bitcoin y Ethereum have been at the center of this debate for their consensus model based on proof of work or Proof of Work, which uses a global mining scheme to sustain its operations and functioning. In turn, the network of miners that use these blockchains demand high energy consumption and produce an amount of CO2 comparable to that of several countries.
With the constant growth that the crypto industry has experienced over the past 13 years, energy consumption and CO2 production have also been increasing. In the case of Ethereum, this blockchain has become the main blockchain for the development of decentralized applications and protocols, NFTs and metaverses. According to estimates by the Digiconomist platform, Ethereum's current energy consumption is approximately 112 terawatt hours (TWh); this is 400% more than the previous year.
For this reason, it was key for the developers of Axie Infinity to migrate the blockchain game from Ethereum to a network like Ronin Network, which is much more energy efficient and more environmentally friendly.
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Axie Infinity: A success story
The NFT Club community, made up of a group of technology enthusiasts and NFT collectors, points out that on Ronin Network, a sale transaction of an Axie Infinity NFT produces only 0,0000015 kg of CO2. On Ethereum, this same NFT sale transaction would generate around 30 kg of CO2.
Prior to its migration to Ronin Network in 2021, Axie Infinity operated on the Ethereum blockchain. Within this blockchain, transactions with the NFTs of this blockchain game produced approximately 336.764 sales transactions that generated 27,7 million kg of CO2. If Axie Infinity had remained on Ethereum, it would currently total more than 18.576.109 sales transactions of its NFTs, producing 1.500 billion kg of CO2 that would require 25,3 million trees to offset, the NFT community explained.
The environmental cost of an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain will be a limitation for its adoption in the future. Therefore, Axie Infinity's initiative to migrate to a more efficient and planet-friendly blockchain solution represents an important step towards minimizing the environmental footprint and securing the future.
“By switching to the Ronin blockchain, Axie Infinity has saved 24.909.874 trees”, says NFT Club. Ronin Network is a blockchain eco-friendly; that is, focused on the environment.
What is Ronin Network?
Ronin Network is an Ethereum-based sidechain designed by Sky Mavis exclusively to support their game Axie Infinity, ensuring scalability and efficiency.
This blockchain is based on the consensus protocol proof of authority, proposed by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood. Proof of Authority uses node validators instead of miners, so its energy demand is significantly lower. Although blockchains based on this protocol offer a better level of scalability, transaction speed, and efficiency, they also face a number of limitations, mainly due to centralization.
The problem of NFT energy consumption
As the NFT market grows in demand and popularity, it could have a devastating effect on the environment.
All NFT transactions that occur on the blockchain currently require around 2,2 trillion trees to offset their carbon footprint. However, there are currently around 3 trillion trees worldwide – a significant number, but one that has been decreasing due to deforestation. This current number of trees can offset around 180 trillion kg of CO2, NFT Club notes. So the NFT market requires around 1,2% of the planet's trees to cope with its CO2 production.
Blockchain and the environment
In the blockchain industry, developers, miners and other participants are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of blockchain, and are therefore continually looking for more energy-friendly and efficient solutions.
In relation to Ethereum, the network developers estimate that its current energy consumption will decrease by up to 99% when migrating to the consensus protocol Proof of Stake with the arrival of Ethereum 2.0. Recently, participants of this blockchain successfully migrated from Ethereum to Ethereum 2.0 on the Kiln testnet, so the actual migration of the blockchain could occur next year, according to estimates.
Developers, miners and participants of Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency on the market, are also working on new initiatives to take advantage of alternative energy sources in order to reduce their energy consumption and, therefore, their environmental impact. Currently, the Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge (CCAF) estimates Bitcoin's energy consumption at around 15,6 gigawatts (GW); which represents just 0,006% of what Spain consumed in 2021, according to data of Expansion.
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