{"id":625,"date":"2022-03-02T15:31:43","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/congress-weighs-cleaning-up-cryptocurrency-mining-in-the-us\/"},"modified":"2022-03-02T15:31:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:31:43","slug":"congress-weighs-cleaning-up-cryptocurrency-mining-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/congress-weighs-cleaning-up-cryptocurrency-mining-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress weighs cleaning up cryptocurrency mining in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/1\/20\/22893720\/us-congress-hearing-cryptocurrency-energy-bitcoin-mining\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/1\/20\/22893720\/us-congress-hearing-cryptocurrency-energy-bitcoin-mining<\/a><br \/>\n<code><br \/><\/br><\/code><\/p>\n<div readability=\"140.74298835493\">\n<p id=\"vWIVIW\">On Thursday, members of Congress debated how to make cryptocurrencies greener, as energy-intensive bitcoin mining booms in the US. One of the biggest questions was whether to use renewables to power the energy-hungry mining at the heart of bitcoin\u2019s blockchain, or turn to other blockchains that don\u2019t need as much energy in the first place. <\/p>\n<p id=\"YpU3hW\">The debate took place during an oversight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HWg731-3id8\">hearing<\/a> on the \u201cenergy impacts of cryptocurrency\u201d held by the House Energy &#038; Commerce Committee. The US became the de facto epicenter for bitcoin mining last year, after China clamped down on mining within its borders \u2014 in part because of how much energy bitcoin uses. That transition could have big implications for the already strained power grid in the US, as well as the Biden administration\u2019s ability to meet its ambitious climate change goals.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-float-right\">\n<aside id=\"9aWfXy\"><q>\u201cCryptocurrency presence in every day life will likely continue to expand\u201d<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"siu2jj\">\u201cCryptocurrency presence in every day life will likely continue to expand,\u201d Representative Diana Degette (D-CO) said in her opening comments at the hearing. \u201cAs the industry moves forward, it\u2019s crucial for cryptocurrency networks to identify ways to reduce the need for constant high volume energy use and minimize effects on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"YolrQk\">The bitcoin network gobbles up more electricity than the countries of Ukraine or Norway use in a year. If bitcoin was a country, that would make it the <a href=\"https:\/\/ccaf.io\/cbeci\/index\/comparisons\">27th<\/a> most electricity-hungry nation in the world. That also makes bitcoin the most polluting cryptocurrency, since bitcoin mining is often powered by fossil fuel energy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ME9iEH\">Part of the reason for bitcoin\u2019s outsized energy use is that it\u2019s the biggest crypto network by far. But bitcoin also needs more electricity than some other cryptocurrencies because it uses a process called \u201cproof of work\u201d that works as a sort of security system to keep its ledger of transactions, the blockchain, secure and accurate. Miners verify transactions by racing to solve complex puzzles using specialized computers. They get bitcoins as a reward. Meanwhile, all that computing power burns through electricity.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-float-right\">\n<aside id=\"8Xz5NH\"><q>There are some worrying signs<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"ZkXrFv\">When bitcoin mining was concentrated in China, miners tended to use clean hydropower during the wet season and coal when that resource dried up. In the US, what the energy mix for crypto mining looks like is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/9\/30\/22702543\/bitcoin-carbon-footprint-emissions-china\">still taking shape<\/a>. But there are some worrying signs. Miners have already <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2021\/09\/old-coal-plant-is-now-mining-bitcoin-for-a-utility-company\/\">extended the lives<\/a> of aging power plants that burn coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. <\/p>\n<p id=\"Q7LJEr\">\u201cGiven our current climate objectives, examples like this are deeply concerning. Our focus now needs to be reducing carbon emissions overall, and increasing the share of green energy on the grid,\u201d Representative Degette said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ErJ4oR\">Industry experts who gave testimony during today\u2019s hearing argued that there\u2019s an opportunity for crypto mining to embrace renewable energy and by doing so, help clean energy flourish in the US. A challenge with solar and wind is that they\u2019re intermittent sources of energy \u2014 depending on the weather, sometimes there\u2019s not enough and sometimes there\u2019s too much. Miners can use up excess renewable energy that might otherwise go to waste because there\u2019s not enough battery storage yet for renewable energy on the grid, proponents argued. <\/p>\n<p id=\"ZwtDQU\">\u201cComputing is a <em>better <\/em>battery,\u201d John Belizaire, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Soluna Computing, said during the hearing. His company develops data centers for cryptocurrency mining.<\/p>\n<p id=\"bJdwwc\">Other experts are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/5\/13\/22434617\/renewable-energy-bitcoin-pollution-tesla-elon-musk\">skeptical<\/a> that renewables will be a silver bullet for bitcoin\u2019s energy problems. To cut greenhouse gas emissions, electricity from renewables will eventually need to power everything from vehicles to home heating. So bitcoin mining would be competing with those needs. And when demand for power outpaces supply, it can lead to power outages \u2014 or to burning more fossil fuels to supplement clean energy sources. <\/p>\n<p id=\"4Fzs8N\">There\u2019s another solution that some experts see. Instead of using proof of work, some cryptocurrencies use different methods to keep their blockchains accurate. The most popular alternative is called proof of stake, which doesn\u2019t require huge amounts of computing power because there are no puzzles to solve. The Ethereum network, the largest after bitcoin, has plans to eventually move from proof of work to proof of stake. <\/p>\n<p id=\"EP3x9j\">Bitcoin has no such plans. There\u2019s no expectation of the network ever reaching a consensus on making that switch, especially since miners have already invested in the machines they use to crack puzzles. For now, it seems that as long as bitcoin\u2019s the biggest player in the game, cryptocurrencies will continue to eat up more and more energy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"vakBGB\">\u201cThe bitcoin community deserves our deep gratitude for introducing blockchains to the world, but we have far more energy efficient alternatives than proof of stake for the sake of the environment and our energy infrastructure in the United States,\u201d Ari Juels, a professor at Cornell University, and a co-author of a paper that coined the term \u201cproof of work\u201d in 1999 , said in his testimony. \u201cI believe that we need to embrace these newer options.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"deR2ri\">It\u2019s still not clear how congress members plan to follow up on the hearing; DeGette concluded by saying the discussion of cryptocurrency\u2019s energy usage is going to be \u201can increasing issue\u201d for the committee. At this point \u201cwe don\u2019t have any answers,\u201d she said.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"tfYm7o\">Whatever happens next, the stakes are huge for the planet. The US is the second biggest climate polluter after China. The Biden administration has set a goal of nearly eliminating all greenhouse gas pollution over the next few decades, and that will be difficult to achieve  with or without bitcoin mining playing a role.<\/p>\n<aside id=\"qOxidl\">\n<\/aside>\n<aside id=\"fEQTGa\">\n<\/aside>\n<p id=\"stLWR8\"><em><strong>Correction 8:10PM Jan. 20: <\/strong><\/em><em>This story has been corrected to clarify that bitcoin uses proof of work. An earlier version of this post wrote that it uses proof of stake. We regret the error.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><code><br \/><\/br><\/code><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/1\/20\/22893720\/us-congress-hearing-cryptocurrency-energy-bitcoin-mining\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/1\/20\/22893720\/us-congress-hearing-cryptocurrency-energy-bitcoin-mining<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: On Thursday, members of Congress debated how to make cryptocurrencies greener, as energy-intensive bitcoin mining booms in the US. One of the biggest questions was whether to use renewables to power the energy-hungry mining at the heart of bitcoin\u2019s blockchain, or turn to other blockchains that don\u2019t need as much energy in the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,26],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-science","tag-environment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Congress weighs cleaning up cryptocurrency mining in the US - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/congress-weighs-cleaning-up-cryptocurrency-mining-in-the-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congress weighs cleaning up cryptocurrency mining in the US - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: On Thursday, members of Congress debated how to make cryptocurrencies greener, as energy-intensive bitcoin mining booms in the US. 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