Background:           

For decades humanity has exploited Earth’s resources and violated nature’s delicate balance which has led to the highest levels of pollution ever, prompting the topic of sustainability to widen and improve with more people recognizing its importance. Due to this, the science communities have turned their attention to investigating any wrongdoers with cryptocurrencies being recently put through the sustainability lens. Consequently, some heavy critiques about the inefficient electricity consumption of some digital currencies have been brought forward with Bitcoin taking the leading position.

Purpose:                  

The purpose of this study is to investigate and measure what results a change in Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake will have on its electricity efficiency and if this new version of the cryptocurrency can be labelled as sustainable when analysed through Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12, and 13.

Method:                  

This study utilizes a descriptive-exploratory research method to gain an in-depth understanding of the energy use and environmental consequences connected with Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithms in cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion:            

The results show that while not possible to be classified as a perfectly sustainable technology, the hypothesized Proof-of-Stake version of Bitcoin is by far more sustainable than its current form and is a good direction to chase in terms of sustainability.