Bitcoin News and Finance US Lawmakers Press Bitcoin Mining Firms on Energy Usage, Carbon Emissions, Climate Crisis Skip to main content

US Lawmakers Press Bitcoin Mining Firms on Energy Usage, Carbon Emissions, Climate Crisis

US Lawmakers Press Bitcoin Mining Firms on Energy Usage, Carbon Emissions, Climate Crisis

Eight U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have sent letters to top U.S.-based bitcoin mining firms questioning them about their crypto mining operations. “The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with bitcoin mining could undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis — not to mention the harmful impacts cryptomining has on local environments and electricity prices,” Senator Warren wrote.

US Senators Want Answers From Top Bitcoin Mining Firms

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, announced Thursday that she and seven other senators have sent letters to six crypto mining companies “raising concerns over their extraordinarily high energy usage.”

The announcement details: “Senator Warren and her colleagues asked each company to detail their electricity consumption, scaling plans, agreements with electricity companies, and impact on energy costs for consumers and small businesses by February 10, 2022.”

The letters were sent to six crypto mining firms: Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital Holdings, Stronghold Digital Mining, Bitdeer, Bitfury Group, and Bit Digital.

Senator Warren explained:

The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with bitcoin mining could undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis — not to mention the harmful impacts cryptomining has on local environments and electricity prices.

She claims that “Bitcoin mining’s power consumption has more than tripled from 2019 to 2021, rivaling the energy consumption of Washington state, and of entire countries like Denmark, Chile, and Argentina.”

“We need more information on the operations of these cryptomining companies to understand the full scope of the consequences for our environment and local communities,” the senator from Massachusetts stressed.

In December last year, Senator Warren sent a similar letter to Greenidge Generation Holdings, which operates one of the largest bitcoin mining operations in the U.S. She asked the company about their emissions and impacts on local ecosystems and electricity prices.

A report on the bitcoin mining industry published by Coinshares this month notes that “Usage of energy is a contentious and much misunderstood function of the Bitcoin monetary system.” The report explains, “Carbon emissions emitted by electricity providers supplying the bitcoin mining network are inconsequential,” elaborating:

At 0.08% of global CO2e emissions, removing the entire mining network from global demand — and thereby depriving hundreds of millions of people of their only hope for a fair and accessible form of money — would not amount to anything more than a rounding error.

What do you think about Senator Elizabeth Warren sending letters to crypto mining firms? Let us know in the comments section below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Blogarama - Blog Directory