Key Takeaways:
- The world’s top bitcoin miners receives letters from lawmakers to explain the impact of their operations on the environment.
- The lawmakers avoided talking about the regulatory actions that may affect the industry.
The world’s six biggest Bitcoin miners, including Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc, have been asked by a group of Democratic lawmakers to answer how their operations affect the environment and their electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachuttes leads the group of lawmakers. The issue has been raised amidst a situation when concerns related to the crypto industry’s effect on the environment rise.
On Thursday, the chief executives of each firm have received letters from the eight lawmakers asking for details of the companies electricity cost, their scaling plans, and if they have any arrangements with the local utility company. The firms have to send a reply within February 10.
The lawmakers have said that they are concerned about the effects cryptocurrency mining has on the environment and consumers. For example, they mentioned the fact that energy consumption for Bitcoin mining tripled between 2019 and 2021. They have also cited a 2021 study of the University of California, Berkeley that stated a rise in electricity bills by almost $165 for small businesses and $79 million for consumers “with little or no local economic benefit” due to crypto mining in New York.
Senator Warren has also said, “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 crypto mining has on local environments and electricity prices”. She further says, “We need more information on the operations of these crypto mining companies to understand the full scope of the consequences for our environment and local communities.”
The lawmakers avoided suggesting that administrative activity is not far off the industry. Still, it is apparent that they are pondering over the impact of cryptocurrency on other areas of the economy.
