The co-founder of Solana blockchain, Anatoly Yakovenko, has also voiced his say on Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, transitioning to the proof of stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.

During a recent interview on CNBC with Kate Rooney, Yakovenko asserted that the number one cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, must transition to an environmentally friendly consensus mechanism to maintain its popularity and adoption.

Anatoly Yakovenko noted:

“This is probably the most controversial thing that you’ll get me to say but eventually if it [Bitcoin] doesn’t move to proof of stake, nobody is going to use it.”

The Proof of Stake (PoS) Mechanism Offers More Efficiency 

The energy-consuming proof of work (PoW) mechanism that Bitcoin is built on makes its mining a major environmental concern. 

In the interview, Solana’s co-founder pointed out that it’s more efficient to build a proof of stake consensus mechanism. It also offers the same level of protection as the energy-consuming proof of work (PoW) network.

Yakovenko noted that Bitcoin’s nature as PoW crypto only makes it thrive as a store of value but not a suitable means of payment, unlike the rising layer-2 ecosystem. He said, “maybe that works for now but we’ll see what happens in ten years.”

It should be noted that Bitcoin was launched as a proof of work crypto to protect and prevent the network from double-spending. But these are energy-consuming processes. 

According to the report recently published by the Solana Foundation, a single transaction on the Bitcoin network consumes 6,995,592,000 Joules. On the other hand, the same transaction on the Solana network only consumes 2,707 Joules.

Chris Larsen, Ripple co-founder, who is currently the Executive Chairman of Ripple’s board of directors, also supports the suggestion. As reported in early April, Larsen promised to donate $5 million to push the initiative.