US Congress scrutinises mining’s impact on energy use

In any debate about mining, questions of carbon emissions and energy efficiency should take centre stage. With this leitmotif, a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives on cryptocurrency mining took place, according to Bloomberg.

During the discussion, lawmakers cited data from a report which found that Bitcoin and Ethereum mining in 2021 generated emissions equivalent to those of 15.5 million cars.

Lawmakers expressed concern about repurposing of old coal-fired power plants in New York and Pennsylvania for cryptocurrency mining.

In the discussion took part Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks. The former head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) within the U.S. Treasury and Binance.US emphasised that energy use should be assessed by markets, not policymakers. He added that miners often come to the aid of utilities, providing a steady demand.

Nick Carter, founder of Coin Metrics, wondered why sector representatives were absent from the hearing.

“This is a scandal that representatives of Core Scientific, Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital, Greenidge Generation Holdings, Stronghold Digital Mining were not invited. […] This is like a hearing on electric vehicles without inviting Tesla. It makes no sense.”, — he said in a comment to The Block.

Earlier in the European Union, urged a ban on mining using the Proof-of-Work algorithm.

Earlier, Intel announced the arrival of a highly efficient Bitcoin ASIC miner.

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