LIVE BLOG: Congressional Hearing Puts Crypto Energy Use in the Crosshairs

Crypto mining's energy use will be in the crosshairs Thursday as the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee discusses its environmental impact. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will question five witnesses about proof-of-work consensus mechanisms, how crypto networks are powered and what tools or solutions exist to mitigate environmental impacts.

The hearing comes one day after E&E News, a Politico subsidiary, revealed that the Environmental Protection Agency blocked two coal-powered power plants primarily focused on bitcoin mining from continuing to operate coal ash, a "toxic slurry produced from coal power."

“The profitability of mining and the increase of the value of [proof-of-work] cryptocurrencies over time supports massive investments in mining facilities, which require ever-increasing amounts of energy to power and cool machines,” a hearing memo said.

The witnesses – Cornell Tech Professor Ari Juels, Soluna Computing CEO John Belizaire, BitFury CEO Brian Brooks, former Chelan County Public Utility District General Manager Steven Wright and Jordan Ramis shareholder Gregory Zerzan – will share a range of thoughts in prepared testimony, including endorsements of proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms and questions about the mix of energy sources used to power cryptocurrencies
12:52 (EG) Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), said that while there are bad actors who utilize carbon intensive mining efforts, there are also industry leaders who are committed to reducing carbon emissions and are publicly traded. She asked what innovations are coming out of mining that have applications outside the space.

12:45 (ND) In response to a question from Rodgers, Wright said he believes Chelan County saw an immature part of the crypto industry when miners set up shop as far back as 2014 and 2015.

"The key thing is we had a lot of folks come to town highly capitalized, and none of them really hung around and that created a fair amount of frustration for this community," he said.

Chelan County's board of commissioners voted in 2018 to institute a moratorium on new miners due to concerns about energy usage, public safety and energy costs.

Wright went further in his remarks Thursday, saying "I think there was a lot of concern candidly about the potential for decentralized and unregulated currency and what could be done and a lot of reports in the press about various activities associated with cryptocurrency."

12:41 (EG) Rep. Cathy Rodgers (R-Wa.) quoted a survey that said blockchain jobs grew 395% from 2020 to 2021 along with $30 billion in investment, asking what is the longterm utility of blockchain talent.

12:39 (CL) Witness Gregory Zerzan, responding to a question from Rep. David McKinley (R-W.V.) about using stranded energy to mine bitcoin, said crypto miners often utilize energy that would otherwise be wasted.

“We've heard testimony today that points out accurately that the wind doesn't always blow. We don't always have sunshine,” Zerzan said, adding:

“Sometimes when those things happen, it happens too much. And so that energy would otherwise be wasted. And one of the great things about cryptocurrency technology and processing is that it utilizes energy in many cases that would otherwise be discarded.”

12:36 (ND) Josh Olszewicz, head of research at Valkyrie Funds, tweeted the chart below in response to Juels' claim that just four miners could control 51% of the Bitcoin blockchain: