Democrats in Congress are ramping up pressure on cryptocurrency firms to show that Bitcoin is worth the wattage, amid concerns that minting digital money has become an environmental disaster.
Scrutiny from lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is triggering lobbying on behalf of so-called crypto miners who are using an escalating amount of computing and electricity to extract valuable digital tokens from the blockchain.
Critics say the practice, which grants miners digital currency in exchange for validating transactions, contributes to rising energy costs and global warming because of its use of power generated by fossil fuels. Bitcoin alone eats up about as much electricity as Ukraine, according to a University of Cambridge estimate.
The congressional oversight — which comes after Democrats in states like New York also proposed clamping down — is expected to intensify now that the U.S. is home to more crypto mining capacity than any other country, following a crackdown in China. With crypto mining now a multibillion-dollar business, the industry is fighting to make the case that lawmakers shouldn’t stand in the way of an economic boom.
“It’s not up to the government to decide if Bitcoin is important to the country’s future — that’s the market,” said Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks, who served as a top Trump bank regulator before taking the helm of the crypto mining company. “The market has spoken.”
Deciding how to address Bitcoin’s environmental fallout is the latest policy con ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
