Bitcoin mining’s biggest critics have always listed energy consumption as the bane of mining digital assets and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen thinks he might have a solution to the problem in his most recent blog. Larsen, who’s also the executive chairman of Ripple Labs proposes Bitcoin miners move away from the existing, energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm to the more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. He added that these miners should view his plan as “a net positive for their longevity” while also adding his take on how the switch could benefit mining firms.

Proof-of-work is the consensus algorithm that secures Bitcoin transactions on the blockchain. While the Bitcoin network is the most secure and reliable, the amount of energy Bitcoin mining requires causes endless debate in the crypto space.

“The least disruptive proposal would simply take a snapshot of the current hash rate of existing miners and then reward miners on a pro-rata hash power basis until 2140,” Larsen also mentioned in his Medium post that the Existing miners would simply have the rights to future Bitcoin rewards without having to make additional investments in mining platforms

There’s also exists a problem with the proof-of-stake model and that is its impact on the security of the blockchain, a problem that has no solution to unless there’s a ready modification to Larsen’s suggested proposal.