Ethereum meets the green. The cryptocurrency platform has in fact completed, after years of delay and frenetic experimentation, the so-called 'Merge', or the upgrade that allows its infrastructure to become more sustainable and reduce energy consumption. "This is the first step in Ethereum's great journey towards a more mature system," says Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. "For me, Merge symbolizes the difference between the early stages of Ethereum and the Ethereum that we have always wanted. This is a great moment for our ecosystem."
For the cryptocurrency industry, this is a rare moment of rejoicing in a difficult year, which saw $ 1 trillion burn from the industry, forcing several companies into bankruptcy. Eco-friendly routes, first introduced to U.S-based users last year, offer to show more fuel-efficient routes instead of the fastest ones.
“This technology is made possible thanks to insights from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and data from the European Environment Agency", the company said in a blog post.
Users can see the eco-friendly route marked with a leaf label and choose fuel-efficient routing among the new options. The company is also launching a new feature for car owners to choose their vehicle’s engine type to get personalized suggestions for fuel-efficient routes best suited for the engine.
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
