Bitcoin miners rebut claims made by US Democratic legislators to EPA administrator

The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) has responded to a missive sent to United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan by Democratic legislators past period with a missive of its ain seeking to rectify inaccuracies astir Bitcoin (BTC) mining and its biology impact. 

Penned by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, Castle Island Ventures spouse Nic Carter and Darin Feinstein of Core Scientific, the BMC letter, which has implicit 50 signers, highlights alleged misconceptions successful the papers sent to Regan. In particular, the authors said that the archetypal letter, which was signed by Democratic Representative Jared Huffman and 22 members of Congress, “confuses datacenters with powerfulness procreation facilities,” among different inaccuracies.

Certain members of Congress sent a missive to the EPA premised connected respective misperceptions astir #Bitcoin mining. We person authored a effect to wide up the confusion, close inaccuracies, and amended the public.https://t.co/Ks6fh9Cg0Z

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 2, 2022

The Democrats’ missive urges the EPA to ensure that integer plus miners comply with “foundational biology statutes similar the Clean Air Act oregon the Clean Water Act” and goes connected to aerial respective concerns relating to cryptocurrency mining, specified arsenic physics discarded and sound pollution. The BMC missive seizes connected 8 points and rebuts them astatine length.

According to the manufacture group, the archetypal letter's assertion that Bitcoin mining facilities crossed the state are "polluting communities” is inaccurate. According to BMC, Bitcoin mining facilities nutrient nary pollution, alternatively powerfulness generating facilities do. The nonaccomplishment to marque that favoritism comes up much than once. The authors besides debunk what they spot arsenic outright misinformation, specified arsenic “A azygous Bitcoin transaction could powerfulness the mean U.S. household for a month.”

However, BMC whitethorn person revealed its ain prejudices successful its effect to the assertion that proof-of-stake (PoS) processing is little energy-intensive. After holding PoS to respective criticisms, the manufacture radical states the following: 

“Given that Proof of Stake and Proof of Work are qualitatively different, it’s misleading to notation to Proof of Stake arsenic a much ‘efficient’ signifier of Proof of Work, since it does not execute the aforesaid thing.” 

The missive besides points retired that galore miners prosecute successful high-performance computing, which has galore beneficial applications beyond Bitcoin and integer assets. 

BMC is an manufacture relation unfastened to each Bitcoin miners. It originated from a gathering of North American Bitcoin miners initiated by Michael Saylor successful May 2021. Currently, the radical has 44 “advisory members.” It has also published respective reports connected the biology interaction of Bitcoin mining and proof-of-work much generally. Some of the findings successful its reports person been disputed.

Related: Go greenish oregon spell home? What the NY State mining moratorium could mean for crypto industry

The BMC missive was signed by immoderate of the crypto industry's astir salient names and supporters, including Block Inc.’s Jack Dorsey, Fidelity Investments elder vice president Tom Jessop, Fordham Law School Professor Donna Redel, Grayscale Investments CEO Michael Sonnenshein and SkyBridge Capital laminitis Anthony Scaramucci.