XELS Launches Eco-Conscious Blockchain Platform for Carbon Offset Credits

XELS, one of the leading startups tackling climate change by increasing participation and transparency in carbon markets, will list its eponymous XELS token on Bittrex Global on April 8th, 2021.

XELS will provide both businesses and individuals access to a blockchain-based carbon offset platform, initially focused on tokenized voluntary carbon offset credits. These credits are increasingly attractive to companies that want to show consumers they’re serious about reducing their carbon footprint.

Tackling Fraud With Blockchain

Since the birth of carbon markets following the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, fraud has hindered the effectiveness of carbon credit sales and trading. Bad actors sometimes sell fake or expired credits, and “recycling” fraud had led to the double-spending of unretired credits. Carbon markets are the perfect use case for blockchain’s distributed ledger technology, as transactions cannot be modified, reversed, or duplicated. Tokenized carbon credits can also be “burned,” with a public transaction hash proving it has been retired forever.

“We believe that decentralization is the only way that carbon markets can work effectively. XELS will enable the industry to maintain open, transparent records – from generation to sale, to retirement. Making it easy for corporations to transparently offset their carbon without fear of fraud will make them even more willing to combat global warming, and it will pay dividends as far as consumer trust that they’re truly intent on making a difference for the environment.”XELS founder and CEO Takeshi Nojima explains the XELS vision

The XELS Token

XELS will exist as a platform token that will be used to access a future suite of stablecoins that are pegged to various industry-standard voluntary carbon offset credits. In the future, the company also seeks to offer “compliance” credits, which are heavily regulated under national cap and trade agreements. 

Japan lags behind European nations, where businesses are compelled to buy compliance credits to avoid heavy taxes. XELS is already in talks with numerous listed companies in Japan that are keen to get on board with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s target of reaching net zero domestic emissions by 2050.

Reducing Blockchains Carbon Footprint

While XELS will exist as an ERC20 token at launch, the company is cognizant of concerns surrounding the high energy consumption associated with Ethereum, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies.

Later this year, XELS will migrate to a proprietary, low-energy blockchain that the company has been developing since 2017. XELS Chain takes a hybrid proof-of-stake and proof-of-work approach, while enabling users to run a full node on a basic laptop without the need for power-hungry mining hardware.

Photo by Daniel Moqvist on Unsplash

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