Sustainability Disclosure - ETH

Quantitative information

S.1 Name
Digital Currency Services B.V.

S.2 Relevant legal entity identifier
724500QZRWKCU8D2L569

S.3 Name of the crypto-asset
Ethereum [ETH]

S.6 Beginning of the period to which the disclosure relates
2024-06-14

S.7 End of the period to which the disclosure relates
2025-06-14

S.8 Energy consumption
2376237.60000 kWh/a

S.10 Renewable energy consumption
26.5386870830 %

S.11 Energy intensity
0.00009 kWh

S.12 Scope 1 DLT GHG emission - Controlled
0.00000 tCO2e

S.13 Scope 2 DLT GHG emission - Purchased
790.84293 tCO2e

S.14 GHG intensity
0.00003 kgCO2e

Qualitative information

S.4 Consensus Mechanism

The crypto-asset's Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, introduced with The Merge in 2022, replaces mining with validator staking. Validators must stake at least 32 ETH every block a validator is randomly chosen to propose the next block. Once proposed the other validators verify the blocks integrity. The network operates on a slot and epoch system, where a new block is proposed every 12 seconds, and finalization occurs after two epochs (~12.8 minutes) using Casper-FFG. The Beacon Chain coordinates validators, while the fork-choice rule (LMD-GHOST) ensures the chain follows the heaviest accumulated validator votes. Validators earn rewards for proposing and verifying blocks, but face slashing for malicious behavior or inactivity. PoS aims to improve energy efficiency, security,and scalability, with future upgrades like Proto-Danksharding enhancing transaction efficiency.

S.5 Incentive Mechanisms and Applicable Fees

I) Incentive mechanism

Ethereum relies on validators to propose and attest to blocks rather than miners.

  • Validator Staking Rewards: Validators must stake at least 32 ETH to participate. They earn rewards for:
    • Proposing Blocks: Randomly chosen validators propose new blocks.
    • Attesting (Voting): Verifying the integrity of proposed blocks.
    • Sync Committees: Participating in specialized committees to sign block headers.
  • Validator Rewards Composition: Rewards come from newly issued ETH (inflationary) and transaction tips (priority fees).
  • Slashing & Penalties (Disincentives): Malicious behavior (like double-signing or "equivocation") or prolonged inactivity leads to penalties and "slashing," where a portion of the staked ETH is destroyed and the validator is removed from the network.
  • MEV (Maximal Extractable Value): Validators can earn additional revenue by reordering, including, or excluding transactions within the blocks they produce, a major, albeit complex, source of income.

II) Applicable Fees

Ethereum’s fee structure is based on a two-part system designed to make costs more predictable.

  • Base Fee: This is the minimum fee per gas unit required for a transaction to be included in a block.
    • Burned: The base fee is burned (destroyed), not paid to validators. This reduces the total supply of ETH, introducing deflationary pressure during high network demand.
    • Dynamic: The base fee adjusts automatically based on network congestion—if a block is over 50% full, the base fee increases; if it is under, it decreases.
  • Priority Fee (Tips): This is an optional, additional fee paid directly to the validator.
    • Incentive: It acts as a tip to incentivize validators to prioritize a specific transaction, which is critical during high-demand events ("gas wars").
  • Max Fee: The maximum total amount a user is willing to pay (Base Fee + Priority Fee). The difference between the max fee and the actual fee charged is refunded.

S.9 Energy consumption sources and methodologies

For the calculation of energy consumptions, the so called "bottom-up" approach is being used. The nodes are considered to be the central factor for the energy consumption of the network. These assumptions are made on the basis of empirical findings through the use of public information sites, open-source crawlers and crawlers developed in-house. The main determinants for estimating the hardware used within the network are the requirements for operating the client software. The energy consumption of the hardware devices was measured in certified test laboratories. When calculating the energy consumption, we used - if available - the Functionally Fungible Group Digital Token Identifier (FFG DTI) to determine all implementations of the asset of question in scope and we update the mappings regulary, based on data of the Digital Token Identifier Foundation. The information regarding the hardware used and the number of participants in the network is based on assumptions that are verified with best effort using empirical data. In general, participants are assumed to be largely economically rational. As a precautionary principle, we make assumptions on the conservative side when in doubt, i.e. making higher estimates for the adverse impacts.

S.15 Key energy sources and methodologies

To determine the proportion of renewable energy usage, the locations of the nodes are to be determined using public information sites, open-source crawlers and crawlers developed in-house. If no information is available on the geographic distribution of the nodes, reference networks are used which are comparable in terms of their incentivization structure and consensus mechanism. This geo-information is merged with public information from Our World in Data, see citation. The intensity is calculated as the marginal energy cost wrt. one more transaction.

Ember (2025); Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Share of electricity generated by renewables – Ember and Energy Institute” [dataset]. Ember, “Yearly Electricity Data Europe”; Ember, “Yearly Electricity Data”; Energy Institute, “Statistical Review of World Energy” [original data]. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-renewables

S.16 Key GHG sources and methodologies

To determine the GHG Emissions, the locations of the nodes are to be determined using public information sites, open-source crawlers and crawlers developed in-house. If no information is available on the geographic distribution of the nodes, reference networks are used which are comparable in terms of their incentivization structure and consensus mechanism. This geo-information is merged with public information from Our World in Data, see citation. The intensity is calculated as the marginal emission wrt. one more transaction.

Ember (2025); Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Carbon intensity of electricity generation – Ember and Energy Institute” [dataset]. Ember, “Yearly Electricity Data Europe”; Ember, “Yearly Electricity Data”; Energy Institute, “Statistical Review of World Energy” [original data]. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity Licenced under CC BY 4.0.