Key Takeaways
- Senator Elizabeth Warren is main a regulatory push to have U.S.-based crypto miners report their power use and carbon emissions information.
- On Friday, she and 5 different Congressional Democrats despatched a letter to the Environmental Safety Company and Division of Power, asking the companies to think about imposing reporting necessities on crypto miners.
- The lawmakers mentioned that federal intervention was needed as a result of the miner’s power use and carbon emissions have been “disturbing.”
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Senator Elizabeth Warren has referred to as out the crypto trade but once more. This time, U.S.-based cryptocurrency miners are in her crosshairs.
Warren Pushes for Crypto Miner Reporting Necessities
Senator Elizabeth Warren and 5 different Democratic Congress members have despatched a letter asking the Environmental Safety Company and Division of Power to impose power and carbon emissions reporting necessities on crypto mining firms.
In the letter despatched to the 2 companies Friday, the fervently anti-crypto Massachusetts senator and the opposite Democratic lawmakers shared info regarding their latest investigation into the supposed environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining. The lawmakers gathered information from the seven largest crypto mining firms within the U.S. and concluded that the miners had a “main impression on local weather change.” Because of this, they argued, “federal intervention is important.”
“The outcomes of our investigation, which gathered information from simply seven firms, are disturbing,” the lawmakers wrote, including that the crypto miners are “giant power customers that account for a big—and quickly rising—quantity of carbon emissions.” In line with the Warren-led investigation, the seven firms alone had developed over 1,045 MW capability for cryptocurrency mining. This equates to nearly sufficient power to energy each residency in Houston, Texas, the letter famous.
Notably, the letter featured incomplete information voluntarily supplied by the seven mining companies, in addition to mainstream media articles and information based mostly on widely debunked research. Nonetheless, the Congress members argued that the outcomes of their analysis referred to as for a have to clamp down on the controversial mining sector.
To handle the environmental issues outlined within the letter, the lawmakers have proposed imposing extra stringent reporting necessities on cryptocurrency miners. Particularly, the lawmakers requested the Environmental Safety Company and Division of Power to work collectively and use all accessible authorities at their disposal to require U.S.-based mining firms to report on their power use and emissions. In line with the letter, this collected information would higher inform future policy-making and permit for higher modeling of nationwide and regional grid hundreds and transitions.
This isn’t the primary time Senator Warren has referred to as for a extra heavy-handed strategy towards the crypto trade. In a July 2021 CNBC interview, Warren memorably riled crypto fanatics when she in contrast digital belongings like Bitcoin to medication and snake oil and referred to as for an pressing regulatory crackdown in the marketplace. Later that month, she despatched a letter to the SEC, asking the securities regulator to confront the potential dangers of cryptocurrency and act extra decisively to guard traders.
Disclosure: On the time of writing, the creator of this text owned ETH and several other different cryptocurrencies.
