US mulls bill requiring crypto miners to report carbon emissions

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U.S. cryptocurrency miners would be required to report greenhouse gas emissions under a new Senate bill, reflecting criticism from some lawmakers that the large amount of electricity used to verify transactions on proof-of-work blockchains such as Bitcoin adds to the use of Fossil fuels are responsible for global warming.

See Related Article: US Raises Red Flag On Crypto Mining Amid Carbon Emissions Concerns

Fast facts

U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey and Rep. Jared Huffman said in a statement Thursday that they had submitted the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act that would require crypto-mining operations that consume more than 5 megawatts of power or most bitcoin mining projects to report their carbon dioxide. emissions.

Senator Jeff Merkley co-sponsored the bill.

Lawmakers said Bitcoin miners use up to 1.4% of US electricity, citing an August report from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy that says that’s equivalent to the power needed to light up every house in the country.

The bill would also require the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct an interagency study on the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining.

Crypto miners countered criticism of fossil fuel use in an October report by lobby group Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) which said miners had an estimated 59% sustainable energy mix, 4% in the third quarter of this year, compared to 58.4% in the first quarter. .

In May, the BMC said in a letter, signed by MicroStrategy President Michael Saylor, that data centers with miners are no different from those hosted or operated by Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft.

See Related Article: Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops Over 7% as Lack of Liquidity Hits Miners

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