STP 13 (Proposal Blue Sky): An Evolution of Bitcoin with Far Less Carbon Emission

4 min readJun 21, 2021

Purpose

This STP, named Blue Sky, proposes B20, an evolution of Bitcoin with far less carbon emission. If passed, B20 will be fairly and 1:1 airdropped to all Bitcoin holders as if it were a straightforward Bitcoin fork. There will be no pre-mining, new issuance, or ownership misappropriation.

B20 will follow Bitcoin’s mining schedule but will be upgraded to PoS mining. While Bitcoin holders may claim their 1:1 B20 anytime, the PoS mining rights of all unclaimed B20 will be proportionately assigned to BTCST holders, who can then participate in B20 PoS mining as if their BTCST’s were B20's.

Details

The cryptocurrency industry is at a crossroad. While blockchains have proven that distributed ledgers could be far more trustworthy, efficient, and versatile than legacy centralized data recordation methods, some opinion leaders have criticized what they perceive as unreasonably high energy expenditure.

Supporters of Bitcoin’s Proof of Work consensus algorithm view that the absolute amount of energy consumed by Bitcoin is in fact low compared to traditional financial systems. For example, according to a Greenpeace and WWF study, traditional banks relying on non-blockchain ledgers were directly and indirectly linked to 805 million tons of carbon dioxide emission in 2019. The Proof of Work proponents therefore view the energy consumed as necessary and acceptable.

Others disagree. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, the Bitcoin network consumes 87.67 TWh per annum. If Bitcoin were a country, its annual energy consumption would rank between Finland (84.21 TWh) and Kazakhstan (91.67 TWh) as of 2019. To castigators of energy expenditure intrinsic to Bitcoin’s Proof of Work arms race, the point is not whether this level of power consumption is worthy, justifiable, or low compared to the banking system — all could be true. They view such exorbitant spending as wasteful and displacing those with more pressing energy needs.

Members of Standard Hashrate Group (SHG) have Proof of Work roots, but as a progressive organization, we are open to industry adaptations for Bitcoin iterations that optimize environmental impact. Now, after intensive consultation with industry experts and business leaders, SHG is proposing B20, a Bitcoin evolution with far less carbon emission.

B20 is not a synthetic τAsset. B20 is a new token to be fairly and 1:1 airdropped to all Bitcoin holders as if it were a straightforward Bitcoin fork. Specifically, if this STP is passed, B20 will launch with the following parameters.

Targeted Launch Block: Bitcoin Block 692692 (about 30 days from the date of this proposal)
Format: Binance Smart Chain BEP20
Total Circulation: 21,000,000 (identical to Bitcoin)
Initial Circulation: 18,766,825 (identical to Bitcoin circulation at block 692692)
Initial Circulation Airdrops: The initial circulation of B20 will be 1:1 airdropped to Bitcoin holders based on the Bitcoin blockchain snapshot at block 692692 as if it were a straightforward Bitcoin fork. There will be no pre-mining, new issuance, or ownership misappropriation. For example, if a Bitcoin holder holds one Bitcoin at block 692692, the holder will be entitled to claim one B20 from a dedicated dApp. The holder would need to prove the ownership of his native Bitcoin to the dApp and supply a destination BSC address to receive the airdropped B20, both done through a signed message.
Important Note on Claiming Airdrops: If your Bitcoin is hosted at a place (e.g., an exchange account or a wallet) that makes it difficult or impossible to claim B20, make sure to withdraw your Bitcoin to your own wallet that supports cryptographically signing messages or to your Binance account at Bitcoin block 692692. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that you will receive the B20 airdrop.
Mining — B20 PoS Mining: Future B20 will be mined following the Proof of Stake consensus algorithm. Similar to Ethereum’s 2.0 upgrade, B20 aims to cut Bitcoin’s energy expenditure by more than 99% by switching to Proof of Stake. Based on community feedback, future PoS mining could occur on B20 nodes operating as a second layer to BSC.
Mining — BTCST PoS Mining of B20: The initial circulation airdrop of B20 does not expire. Those with Bitcoin balances at block 692692 may claim their B20 anytime. Nonetheless, the PoS mining rights of all unclaimed B20 at any point in time will be proportionately assigned to BTCST holders, who can participate in B20 PoS mining as if their BTCST were B20. For example, if only 25% of initial circulation of B20 are claimed on Day 1, the PoS mining rights of the 75% unclaimed B20 will be mapped to BTCST. In that case, each BTCST will be assigned the PoS mining power of about one B20. BTCST holders may then stake BTCST to receive B20 rewards.
Halving: B20 mining will follow a time-based halving schedule identical to Bitcoin’s remaining halving schedule.

Supported by members of the SHG and additional industry leaders to be announced, B20 as a Bitcoin evolution will leverage the BSC infrastructure and BTCST’s hashrate tokenization protocol to optimize Bitcoin’s energy consumption by more than 99% and improve Bitcoin’s block speed. SHG welcomes the BTCST community to vote on this monumental STP.

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