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White House Labels Cryptocurrency Mining A Climate Threat

BY THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION – SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

Jack McEvoy on September 8, 2022

The White House believes that the federal government should reduce cryptocurrency mining as it is threatening the Biden administration’s climate agenda, according to a report released Thursday.

The White House claims that mining cryptocurrencies are endangering the Biden administration’s climate goals as they generate substantial amounts of carbon emissions and consume large amounts of electricity, according to a report produced by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The report, which was commissioned by the Biden administration as part of a March executive order on digital asset regulation, recommended that the federal government impose crypto mining regulations to curb the power usage that mining requires.

“Depending on the energy intensity of the technology used, crypto assets could hinder broader efforts to achieve net-zero carbon pollution in line with US climate commitments and goals,” the report said. “Global electricity generation for the crypto-assets with the largest market capitalizations resulted in a combined 140 ± 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, or about 0.3% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions.”

The White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy as well as other agencies to create environmental regulations that would reduce crypto mining’s energy consumption. However, the report stated that the White House and Congress should pursue legislation to restrict or eliminate crypto-asset mining if the agencies failed to regulate the industry effectively.

“Should these measures prove ineffective at reducing impacts, the Administration should explore executive actions, and Congress might consider legislation, to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining,” the report states.

Crypto mining operations to acquire new tokens as well as validating transactions on the cryptocurrency blockchain require a substantial amount of power as multiple computers must be used to solve complex math problems, according to Business Insider.

Crypto mining operations in the United States account for between 0.9% and 1.7% of the nation’s total energy consumption; moreover, the U.S. mines about 38% of the world’s bitcoins in 2022, compared to 3.5% in 2020, according to the report.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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Biden executive order on cryptocurrencies – what to know

Cryptocurrency

“Should these measures prove ineffective at reducing impacts, the [Biden] administration should explore executive actions, and Congress might consider legislation, to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining”

BitcoinBTC +0.1%, using the energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus mechanism, could be banned in the U.S. under a proposal made by the White House Office of Science and Technology.

Subscribe now to Forbes’ CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor and successfully navigate the volatile bitcoin and crypto market

Following an executive order made by U.S. president Joe Biden in March in the aftermath of an extraordinary 2021 bitcoin price surge, the Office of Science and Technology said the government “has a responsibility” to “protect” people from pollution caused by cryptocurrencies.

The proposal comes amid a crypto market shake-up caused by ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, beginning its long-await transition from proof-of-work to the far more energy-efficient proof-of-stake—something some think could trigger a massive bitcoin price crash.

“Electricity usage from digital assets is contributing to [greenhouse gas emissions], additional pollution, noise, and other local impacts, depending on markets, policies, and local electricity sources,” the report reads, adding: “The U.S. government has a responsibility to ensure electric grid stability, enable a clean energy future, and protect communities from pollution and climate change impacts.”

The climate impact of bitcoin mining has become a hot topic in recent months as the soaring bitcoin price pushed up bitcoin’s energy demands and fears over climate change reached fever pitch.

The bitcoin price rocketed higher at the end of 2020 and into 2021 only to crash back this year—though it remains around twice its mid-2020 level.

The bitcoin network is thought to use roughly as much energy each year as some smaller countries, with the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance recently calculating it consumes around 110 terawatt hours per year, or 0.55% of global electricity production, equivalent to the annual energy demands of the likes of Malaysia and Sweden.

The Office of Science and Technology recommends creating so-called clean energy “performance standards” for bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining—which involves using powerful computers to both secure the blockchain network and create new coins—including encouraging the “use of environmentally responsible crypto-asset technologies.”

“Should these measures prove ineffective at reducing impacts, the [Biden] administration should explore executive actions, and Congress might consider legislation, to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining”—referring to bitcoin’s proof-of-work.

Earlier this year, internal European Union documents revealed Swedish financial regulators and the EU’s European Commission discussed the possibility of banning bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining mechanism due to its environmental impact.

Meanwhile, ethereum, which still currently uses the proof-of-work system pioneered by bitcoin, has begun a long-awaited switch to proof-of-stake, removing its reliance on miners while reducing the ethereum network’s carbon footprint by 99%.

Ethereum is expected to complete its transition to proof-of-work around mid-September.

Billy Bambrough – Senior Contributor to Forbes.com
September 8, 2022

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Ukraine hit by cyberattacks, destructive malware ahead of invasion

Published: Feb. 23, 2022 at 10:54 p.m. ET By Associated Press

BOSTON — Ukraine’s parliament and other government and banking websites were hit with another punishing wave of distributed-denial-of-service attacks Wednesday, and cybersecurity researchers said unidentified attackers had also infected hundreds of computers with destructive malware.

(more…)
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