A Dubai-based investment firm, IBC Group announced today that the company is staking nearly $10 million worth of Ethereum in support of the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 launch. The ETH 2.0 will go live on 1st December with the launch of Beacon Chain.
Khurram Shroff, Chairman of the IBC Group said that the firm has partnered with a Canada-based decentralized Ethereum staking network CanETH to stake a total of 21,984 ETH in three tranches for 687 validators.
The Group aims to back a new greener model of blockchain technology with this initiative. The Chairman expressed his confidence in ETH 2.0 and supported the Beacon Chain. Shroff is also associated with CanETH pool as a strategic advisor.
Commenting on the recent announcement, Shroff said: “We are very excited by the ‘Proof of Stake’ concept proposed for the Ethereum 2.0 smart contracts and are locking up 20,000 eth which is a one way trip till phase 2. This lockup shows our confidence in ETH2 and dedication to the beacon chain. The greener and more efficient version being introduced in the second iteration addresses the unsustainably high energy consumption required by the ‘proof of work’ model, making it even more attractive”.
“We believe the decentralized ‘distributed consensus’ model favoured by Ethereum 2.0 will unlock multiple avenues for growth and innovation,” Shroff added.
Addressing Environmental Concerns
The proof of work blockchain model has been criticized in the past due to high energy requirements and other environmental issues. The blockchain community considers ETH 2.0 more environment friendly as compared to the older model. “The Proof of work Blockchain model uses more electricity than some countries. These exorbitant energy costs are eventually paid using fiat currencies, which creates downward pressure on the value of the cryptocurrency. So, the Proof of Stake model will be both energy efficient and more lucrative for stakers,” Dwain Pereira, Co-founder at CanETH said in a statement.
