Like other “green” cryptocurrencies, EverGreen Coin is attempting to refocus the motivation of cryptocurrency generation from profit to environmental stewardship and charity. Evergreen Coin was launched in December of 2015 by President Stephen Saxton and now works to deliberately tie environmental stewardship and equity into cryptocurrency mining, profits, and trading. Like Bitcoin—described on their website as the “ancestor” of EverGreen Coin— they depend on an algorithm run on people’s individual computers to mine the blockchain on which the cryptocurrency is based. However, in contrast to Bitcoin, EverGreen uses a “proof of stake” to show that individuals have taken place in mining, which is less resource-intensive and also more equitable since simply participating is the basis for receiving any financial kickbacks from EverGreen. Proof of stake isn’t just a technical action but a physical performativity measure through which participants can increase their participation “stake.” Planting trees, participating in an ocean cleanup project, or installing clean energy on one’s property are some of the ways that stakeholders prove the genuine interest that users have in environmental stewardship. Users submit pictures of them doing these activities to gain more stake. At the end of the month, all members are given 7% of profits, with the rest being given to charity, which is another key aspiration of EverGreen: making cryptocurrency charitable. There are some points of EverGreen that make it difficult to trust or even understand the process by which funds are distributed, especially to charities. Their whitepaper, submitted to the public for review, has been described as oddly vague, and their profitability is pretty modest, particularly because they are running a less intensive algorithm and proof of stake takes the place of ownership, which makes it more difficult to accumulate wealth. EverGreen also doesn’t disclose the process by which charities are frozen, which could give investors pause when asked to contribute to a company that is adamant about user’s transparency and authenticity. The value of an EverGreen coin is also sitting at about $0.03 USD (as of July 28, 2020), only ever reaching a value as high as $1.00 USD in 2017, so how profitable Eco Coin is as a company and the profitability of investments is questionable. However, EverGreen is emergent and trying to shift to a more equitable and eco-conscious manner of business, a trend that will likely only grow in popularity in the future.

“What is EverGreen Coin (EGC)?” CoinSwitch, n.d. Accessed July 28, 2020. https://coinswitch.co/info/evergreencoin/what-is-evergreencoin

“Home.” EverGreen Coin, Accessed July 28, 2020. https://evergreencoin.org.