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

Eight U.S. lawmakers, together with Senator Elizabeth Warren, have despatched letters to high U.S.-based bitcoin mining corporations questioning them about their crypto mining operations. “The terribly excessive vitality utilization and carbon emissions related to bitcoin mining may undermine our arduous work to sort out the local weather disaster — to not point out the dangerous impacts cryptomining has on native environments and electrical energy costs,” Senator Warren wrote.

US Senators Need Solutions From High Bitcoin Mining Companies

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and City Affairs Committee, introduced Thursday that she and 7 different senators have despatched letters to 6 crypto mining corporations “elevating considerations over their terribly excessive vitality utilization.”

The announcement particulars: “Senator Warren and her colleagues requested every firm to element their electrical energy consumption, scaling plans, agreements with electrical energy corporations, and impression on vitality prices for customers and small companies by February 10, 2022.”

The letters have been despatched to 6 crypto mining corporations: Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital Holdings, Stronghold Digital Mining, Bitdeer, Bitfury Group, and Bit Digital.

Senator Warren defined:

The terribly excessive vitality utilization and carbon emissions related to bitcoin mining may undermine our arduous work to sort out the local weather disaster — to not point out the dangerous impacts cryptomining has on native environments and electrical energy costs.

She claims that “Bitcoin mining’s energy consumption has greater than tripled from 2019 to 2021, rivaling the vitality consumption of Washington state, and of total nations like Denmark, Chile, and Argentina.”

“We’d like extra data on the operations of those cryptomining corporations to know the complete scope of the results for the environment and native communities,” the senator from Massachusetts harassed.

In December final yr, Senator Warren despatched an identical letter to Greenidge Era Holdings, which operates one of many largest bitcoin mining operations within the U.S. She requested the corporate about their emissions and impacts on native ecosystems and electrical energy costs.

A report on the bitcoin mining business revealed by Coinshares this month notes that “Utilization of vitality is a contentious and far misunderstood perform of the Bitcoin financial system.” The report explains, “Carbon emissions emitted by electrical energy suppliers supplying the bitcoin mining community are inconsequential,” elaborating:

At 0.08% of world CO2e emissions, eradicating all the mining community from world demand — and thereby depriving tons of of hundreds of thousands of individuals of their solely hope for a good and accessible type of cash — wouldn’t quantity to something greater than a rounding error.

What do you concentrate on Senator Elizabeth Warren sending letters to crypto mining corporations? Tell us within the feedback part under.

Kevin Helms

A pupil of Austrian Economics, Kevin discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His pursuits lie in Bitcoin safety, open-source methods, community results and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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