Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong, who created Greenpeace’s ‘Satoshi’s Skull’ talisman, said his work was “never meant to be anti-Bitcoin”.
The piece was never meant to be anti-Bitcoin.
It was an optimistic hope that Bitcoin could shift away from the needless burning of fossil fuels without losing all the other features that make Bitcoin safe, secure, and decentralized. /3https://t.co/l9SjijMV6h— Von Wong (@thevonwong) March 25, 2023
“I created the Skull, believing that Bitcoin mining was a classic black-and-white issue. I have devoted my entire career to reducing harmful waste emissions, and PoW intuitively seemed unsafe. Of course, I was wrong”, — wrote Von Wong.
The artist noted that after talking with experts in the cryptosphere, he came to see the prospects of blockchain technology. In his view, Bitcoin could potentially become more environmentally friendly without changing the algorithm.
Rather than opposing mining, he urged joining the crypto community and improving it from within.
“With the right approach, miners could oust their rivals who neglect environmental protection. I’m glad to hear from the Bitcoin community that by the end of the decade the first cryptocurrency could reach negative CO2 emissions”, added Von Wong.
On March 23, Greenpeace unveiled a talisman that embodies “dangerous levels of pollution” caused by Bitcoin mining.
Compass Mining’s director of media strategy Will Fox called the installation “really cool” and set the skull image as his profile avatar.
In March 2022, Greenpeace initiated the campaign “Change the Code, Not the Climate” in collaboration with other eco-groups and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen.