Key House Panel to Review Cryptocurrency's Environmental Impact

Statement

On Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. EST, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations panel will hold a hearing to examine the energy and environmental impacts of mining cryptocurrencies.

The hearing comes in response to growing concern that the enormous amount of energy being used to mine cryptocurrency is negating progress being made to combat the climate crisis.

"Cryptocurrencies have seen a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years," said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) who chairs the oversight panel. "The question now is what can be done to ensure they're not negating our efforts to combat the climate crisis? While blockchain technology has many promising applications, our panel is looking to examine how networks may reduce their carbon footprint by migrating toward alternative sources of renewable energy."

Unlike traditional currencies that rely on a centralized authority or financial institution, cryptocurrencies rely on users themselves to record and validate transactions using a network of specialized computers.

The two most popular cryptocurrency networks, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), employ a mechanism known as Proof of Work -- which uses an enormous amount of energy to validate transactions on their networks.

According to one recent study, the amount of energy required to validate just one Ethereum transaction could power a U.S. home for more than a week, while the energy required for a single Bitcoin transaction could power a home for more than 70 days.

As the popularity of cryptocurrencies continues to grow, so too does concern that the increased demand for energy needed to power the global network of computers now dedicated to validating transactions -- through a process known as mining -- will negate any progress made to lower the world's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

It's estimated that, in 2021, Ethereum and Bitcoin mining operations, combined, emitted more than 78 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. That's an amount equivalent to the annual tailpipe emissions of more than 15.5 million cars.

Even more alarming than the amount of energy being used, is the type of energy that some cryptocurrency mining operations are now utilizing. While many cryptocurrency miners have sought to increase their use of renewable energies in recent years, others still rely largely, or completely, on fossil fuels.

In the U.S., some miners have even acquired once-shuttered coal-fired plants and brought them back online solely to support their mining operations -- a move that's directly reversing recent efforts to move the country away from such fossil-fuel technologies.

Thursday's oversight hearing will be streamed LIVE starting at 10:30 a.m. EST at the following link: https://youtu.be/HWg731-3id8

Following is the list of witnesses that will be testifying:

Ari Juels

Weill Family Foundation and Joan and Sanford I. Weill Professor

Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute

Cornell Tech

John Belizaire

Chief Executive Officer

Soluna Computing, Inc.

Brian Brooks

Chief Executive Officer

BitFury

Steve Wright

Former Chief Executive Officer

Chelan County Public Utility District and Bonneville Power Administration

Gregory Zerzan

Shareholder

Jordan Ramis P.C.

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