Popcorn Network is Working With Patch on the First Carbon-Neutral DeFi Product

Key takeaways:

• Over the course of the year, the blockchain sector has come under scrutiny for using huge amounts of electricity needed to power the cryptocurrency mining industry 
• Popcorn Network has integrated Patch’s carbon offsetting services in an effort to become carbon neutral
• Popcorn Network is a DeFi yield optimizer that will allow users to allocate a share of their yields to high-impact social causes

Over the course of 2021, the blockchain industry has come under fire for using excessive amounts of energy, which has clear negative effects on the environment. Popcorn Network and Patch, an API-first carbon removal marketplace, are looking to usher in a new paradigm that would make the industry eco-friendly.

Popcorn Network - sustainable DeFi for the people

The popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and a growing number of smart contracts running on Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) platform, have contributed to the massive increase of transactions on the network. PoW mining consumes a lot of electricity, which is still in large part produced using fossil fuels. The eventual shift of the Ethereum blockchain to Proof-of-Stake via the ‘2.0’ upgrade will improve energy consumption requirements, however, it will not eliminate carbon emissions in their entirety. 

Popcorn Network, a DeFi yield optimizer service, is taking a proactive approach and is developing a long-term solution that will introduce carbon-neutrality to the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry for the first time.

To this end, Popcorn Network has developed a Smart Contract Emissions dashboard that shows how much carbon impact is attributable to each smart contract execution. Popcorn uses Patch-powered ETH emissions data to calculate the carbon footprint.

A dedicated dashboard shows the calculated amount of CO2 emissions, number of transactions, and gas price averages. Image source: Popcorn Network

Knowing how much environmental impact can be attributed to cryptocurrency transactions is far from the whole story. Popcorn is planning on setting aside 50% of the platform’s fees to fund the most successful sustainable energy projects by using the DAO model. Patch’s expertise in providing automated contributions to a broad set of carbon offset and removal projects, such as negative emission technologies and nature-based carbon sequestration projects, will be instrumental in achieving Popcorn’s carbon neutrality.

Additionally, Popcorn is launching a high yield index (HYSI) sometime during the Q4 of this year, which will give users the opportunity to contribute a share of their high yields to various green initiatives and social causes.

Michael Kisselgof, Popcorn’s co-founder, is excited about the prospects of Popcorn Network going green:

“Popcorn ensures eco-friendly performance by offsetting its carbon footprint thanks to Patch, regardless of how many users and TVL we expect to accumulate. This is a new paradigm for banking, allowing us to scale impact while generating competitive returns for our users. We’re proud to be DeFi’s first yield optimizer to go green.”

Brennan Spellacy, co-founder and CEO of Patch is convinced that “DeFi has the potential to deliver significant social impact,” while retaining high yield opportunities for users at the same time. Spellacy is glad that Popcorn is prioritizing the importance of a lower carbon footprint and “allocating a meaningful portion of yield to high-impact carbon removal and offset projects.”