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Do Crypto Investors Care about Energy Use and Climate Change? Evidence from Ethereum’s Transition to Proof-of-Stake

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Preprint

Baur, Dirk G., and Jonathan R. Karlsen. 2024. “Do Crypto Investors Care about Energy Use and Climate Change? Evidence from Ethereum’s Transition to Proof-of-Stake.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network (SSRN). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4695229.

This paper analyses the transition of Ethereum (ETH) from the energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW) to the less energy-intensive Proof-of-Stake (PoS). We analyze returns, volatility, return correlations and volume of ETH, ETC and Bitcoin for all events in the lead-up to the actual change from PoW to PoS also labelled “the merge.” The analysis suggests that some investors value the less energy-intensive mining mechanism and invest in ETH. However, since the overall effect is weak, we conclude that despite all the media attention and the stated concerns about the high energy-intensity of Bitcoin and PoW, most investors do not react to the change with an increased investment in Ethereum.

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