Uphold Challenge Tesla To Adopt Carbon-Neutral BTC, BitcoinZero

- BitcoinZero (BTC0) is an ERC-20 token delivering Bitcoin with net zero emissions; real Bitcoin, net-zero emissions

- There is no other way to do Bitcoin more sustainably, today, than through BitcoinZero

LONDON, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Addressing Elon Musk's concerns over the environmental impact of Bitcoin, multi-currency investment platform Uphold and the Universal Protocol Alliance have offered up their carbon-net-neutral version of Bitcoin, BitcoinZero as an alternative. And Uphold is willing to give away 5 brand-new Teslas to those who get the message to Elon Musk.

Uphold's carbon-neutral take on BTC, aptly known as BitcoinZero (BTC0), employs carbon credits to mitigate the amount of carbon produced by a single Bitcoin. It does so by combining real Bitcoin with the retiring of 10 carbon credits — equal to retiring 10 tonnes of CO2 from REDD+ rainforest projects.

BitcoinZero was launched by the Universal Protocol Alliance (UPA), a coalition of leading blockchain companies including Bittrex Global, CertiK, Fifth Era, Hard Yaka, Trovio, Ledger, and Uphold.

Uphold is so convinced that BTC0 can alleviate concerns around Bitcoin's sweeping environmental impact that they're taking the challenge to Musk himself.

Uphold CEO JP Thieriot said: "We have the solution. If you come to Uphold and buy some BTC0 and allow Tesla to take payment in the form of this carbon-neutral, rainforest preserving bitcoin, Uphold will buy 5 new Teslas and give them away to those Uphold users who do the most to get this message out there."

Estimates from the University of Cambridge suggest that Bitcoin mining consumes over 149 Terawatt Hours (Twh) annually — consuming more electricity annually than the whole of Argentina. 

While hopes remain that Bitcoin miners will switch to sustainable and renewable energy sources, it's a solution unlikely to tackle the issue any time soon, or in its entirety.

"Rather than waiting for Bitcoin to draw from more sustainable sources for electricity, we've gone out and done something we believe is much better," said Thieriot. "We've put the highest-quality rainforest preservation derived credits there to mitigate emissions completely. BitcoinZero is absolutely the only immediately available solution."

About Uphold
A digital money platform serving more than 6 million customers in more than 150 countries. Uphold now manages more than $3 billion in customer assets. The Silicon Valley firm currently opens around 25,000 accounts a day as consumers seek a more versatile and cost-effective home for their financial lives. Leveraging blockchain technology, the platform provides both consumers and businesses with easy access to 51 digital assets, 27 national currencies, four precious metals and 50 fractional U.S. equities. Uphold's unique trading experience - 'Anything-to-Anything' - allows customers to trade directly between asset classes, saving time and money. Uphold supports financial inclusion by enabling customers virtually anywhere to open an account in less than a minute and trade with no minimum investment amounts. Customers can send money to virtually anyone with an email address free of charge. To learn more, please visit https://uphold.com/en-us/

About Universal Protocol Alliance
Universal Protocol Alliance's vision is that every asset class will be digitized and tokenized. We are an alliance of like-minded cryptocurrency companies and blockchain pioneers including Bittrex Global, CertiK, Fifth Era, Hard Yaka, Trovio, Ledger, and Uphold. We know how to tokenize and transparently substantiate any asset. Our mission is to build out the world's leading tokenization platform, ushering in a new era in finance. Learn more at www.universalprotocol.io.

For more information please contact:
Katie Olver
PR for Uphold
[email protected]
[email protected]
+44 7816570243

SOURCE Uphold