US Congress to Hold Oversight Hearing on Crypto Mining: Report

The U.S. Congress is preparing an proceeding to analyse the biology interaction of crypto mining, particularly connected the Bitcoin network, according to a study from The Block.

• The day and witnesser database for the proceeding are inactive undetermined, but it could instrumentality spot arsenic aboriginal arsenic the extremity of January, The Block reported connected Wednesday, citing sources acquainted with the matter.

• The Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is drafting up a database of witnesses. They volition beryllium questioned astir the vigor usage of proof-of-work mining, the benignant of mining utilized for bitcoin, according to the report.

• In 2021, arsenic bitcoin’s c footprint was taking up headlines, U.S. companies continued to determination millions of dollars into bitcoin mining infrastructure. Chinese miners fleeing a regulatory crackdown besides made investments successful the U.S., which is present the world’s largest bitcoin miner. Mining firms plan to proceed expanding their capableness implicit the adjacent year.

• In December, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to New York-based miner Greenidge’s CEO, expressing concerns astir the firm’s biology impact. That was followed by a New York Times article that relayed concerns surrounding the accrued mining successful the state.

• These “recent events successful New York state” person raised the alarm implicit crypto mining with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a idiosyncratic progressive successful pre-hearing discussions with the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee told The Block.