The US Lawmakers want a better idea of crypto’s environmental impact and have asked the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase vigilance. The main focus would be here on the proof of work mining companies. Authorities want EPA to make sure these companies/facilities are compliant with environmental statutes. This doesn’t come as a surprise as even the EU recently proposed a ban on proof of work cryptocurrencies.
Lawmakers want to understand the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies more thoroughly
Jared Huffman and 22 other lawmakers have sent a letter to the EPA where it asked them about cryptocurrency mining. More importantly, they want the EPA to monitor the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies more thoroughly. The authorities said that they believe that crypto facilities are polluting the communities and are contributing massively to greenhouse gas emissions.
The letter also specially mentioned that the PoW mechanism contributes to these emissions and also leads to a lot of electronic waste. This is because the hardware required for securing the network is very specialized and has a short life. Therefore, the industry needs to be held accountable and stopped from creating such things. Like the EU, US Lawmakers also showed interest in the proof of stake mechanism and suggested that it’s a better alternative.
The EPA has also been asked to review permits based on their findings and see if the mining facilities are compliant with the Clean Water and air act.
There needs to be more awareness about the impact of BTC mining
Bitcoin mining is considered to be a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect. However, there has been a shift towards the use of green energy for the same. Additionally, Bitcoin can use off-the-grid energy and take advantage of it. A good example of this is the flared-off gases that miners have recently used. Another myth that more Bitcoin users will need more energy is also wrong. Bitcoin scales efficiently, and that is not the case. If anything, Bitcoin becomes more efficient as more people join the network.
Bitcoin accounts for only 0.08% of the total CO2 emissions globally. So, if the authorities really focused where it was needed, we could see better results.
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