Globally recognized payment outlet PayPal has, through its blockchain research group, proposed a method of gearing towards environmentally friendly bitcoin mining by rewarding a group of miners designated as "Green Miners."
For context, Bitcoin green miners refer to coin miners with environmental interest at heart who have taken it upon themselves to mine Bitcoin using energy sources with less atmospheric degradation effects.
The incentive proposal for Bitcoin green miners was revealed in an April 22 blog article as a collaborative suggestion involving the PayPay research team, Energy Web, and DMG Blockchain Solutions.
Considering that miners' rewards have continued to slash by half with each Bitcoin halving event, the new proposal has sparked widespread commendation in the crypto community, as it could be regarded as a welcome development if implemented.
Modalities Of Proposed Reward Scheme
According to the blog post proposal, on recognizing green miners, they would receive distinct green keys linked with their public keys on which they would receive their rewards.
Consequently, On-chain Bitcoin transactions will be routed to the recognized green miners by attaching low transaction costs with BTC incentives, all locked in a multi-sig payout address.
By virtue of being the only party eligible to claim the locked Bitcoin rewards, coupled with the associated low charges, green miners will be encouraged to mine the transactions.
Criteria For Participation And Qualifications
Per the research document, identifying miners to bring them on board might likely entail leveraging solutions by providers such as Energy Web's "Green Proofs for Bitcoin" initiative to assess and award certificates to deserving miners, which will enable them to participate in the incentive campaign by sharing their green keys on the platform.
Notably, the research document also revealed possible expectations from the proposal testing with a Bitcoin miner, DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc., noting that it involved sending across multiple low-cost transactions to assess the solution's effectiveness levels under several on-chain transaction volumes.
Still, on expectations, the document stated, "We expected that, depending on transaction volume, these transactions would either take a long time to confirm or eventually be dropped by the network. This would increase the chances for green miners to pick up these transactions."
While the research document might aim to introduce unique technicalities and functionalities in Bitcoin's mode of operation, it does not seem to hamper the coin's core value, making it a potential step to achieving a sustainable ecosystem with proper implementation.
