Pundit Claims Cardano Is The Most Decentralized PoS Chain, But At A Cost

Cardano consumes the most energy per transaction for any PoS network. But that could be due to its decentralized nature.

Prominent crypto influencer Ben “BitBoy” Armstrong recently claimed that Cardano is the most decentralized Proof-of-Stake blockchain, citing data from a January report by crypto-focused research startup Crypto Carbon Rating Institute (CCRI). While the report reveals that Cardano consumes the most energy per transaction for any PoS chain, it may indicate how decentralized the network is, according to Bitboy.

“It’s real easy to save electricity when you are centralized,” BitBoy tweeted today, sharing the CCRI report, claiming that Solana’s impressive speed comes at the cost of decentralization.

“If you are unaware, the prioritization of speed through centralization is the number one thing that hurt the Solana tech,” BitBoy asserted. “There’s a reason $ADA is top of this list. Get it yet?” he concluded.

It’s real easy to save electricity when you are centralized.

If you are unaware, the prioritization of speed through centralization is the number one thing that hurt the Solana tech.

There’s a reason $ADA is top of this list. Get it yet?$sol #cardano #cardanocommunity pic.twitter.com/TUWXC2Fbqb

— Ben Armstrong (@Bitboy_Crypto) December 29, 2022

The report from CCRI reveals that Solana consumes about 0.17 Wh per transaction, the lowest for any PoS blockchain on the list. On the contrary, Cardano’s energy consumption per transaction sits at 51.59 Wh, the highest for any PoS chain. 

Nonetheless, according to CCRI, decentralized systems are more liable to consume much more electricity per transaction than centralized systems. This is due to the amount of computational hardware decentralized systems use to process the transaction and the distribution of nodes globally. For context, the Bitcoin network, considered the most decentralized chain, consumes a whopping 17,222,400 Wh (1722.24 kWh) per transaction – the highest ever.

A close look at Visa’s energy consumption per transaction puts things into perspective. Despite its irrefutable centralized nature, at 1.49 Wh per transaction, Visa consumes more energy than Solana.

“Generally, it is not surprising that a centralized system like Visa is more energy-efficient than a decentralized system. Due to the difference in the amount of computational hardware and distribution worldwide, most systems must consume more electricity,” the report notes.

It bears mentioning that although Solana consumes low energy per transaction, its total annual energy consumption is the highest for any PoS network due to the number of transactions it processes. Solana’s annual energy transaction is 1,900,000 kWh, more than Cardano’s at 598,755 kWh.

Early this month, Indian blockchain specialist Sooraj asserted that Cardano is more decentralized than Ethereum despite the latter’s transition to PoS in September. Sooraj based his claims on several metrics, including the staking ratio, initial coin distribution and Nakamoto Coefficient. According to Sooraj, Cardano is more decentralized than any other PoS network.

#Ethereum Community often calls themselves #Decentralization maxis

But if we look at the real metrics#Cardano is far ahead than #Ethereum on #Decentralization

Here are the reasons why #Cardano is the most decentralized PoS-based blockchain out there??

— Sooraj (@Soorajksaju2) December 2, 2022