Humor: New Cryptocurrency Aims to Reduce Energy Consumption from Christmas Lights

Americans and their Christmas lights consume a staggering amount of energy. For December alone, these glowing ornaments consumed 4.5 terawatt-hours of electricity, more than the annual consumption of Laos. Fortunately, the new Festivus ICO is looking to reinvent Christmas spirit.

Problems with Bitcoin

One of the major problems with Bitcoin is how much energy it takes to maintain the network. Proof of work mining is costly. Estimates by CryptoSlate put the number around 29 terawatt-hours a year, as much energy as the entire country of Morocco.

Yet, Americans also use an absurd amount of electricity to prove that they are more spirited than their neighbors. If people had to juice their holiday-glands for the entire year, it would consume nearly 54 terawatt-hours, or almost twice that of Bitcoin mining. And, that’s just to impress the neighbors. There has to be a better way.

Introducing Festivus

The innovative ICO Festivus (FEST) aims to address the waste around Christmas lights by reinventing holiday spirit. Using its Festivity Coin, holders can deterministically prove that they have more holiday cheer than their neighbors.

Instead of proof of work, FEST uses a new proof of festivity algorithm (PoF). PoF allows holders to stake cryptocurrency tokens in return for donations made directly to holiday charities, such as Toys for Tots, Operation Christmas Child, and Make-A-Wish Foundation.

And, unlike ordinary Christmas lights, stakers are given the GPS coordinates of all other FEST nodes within a 50-mile radius, allowing holders to out-do their neighbors without the tangle of holiday lights.

So, if you’re not into Hanukkah, Solstice, or Christmas, then thankfully for the rest of us, there is Festivus. Now you can stop hassling with holiday lights and put some of those Christmas Rally gains into FEST.