Elizabeth Warren, a former law professor and the United States Democratic Party senator from Massachusetts, has pointed fingers at a Bitcoin mining firm and demanded answers as to how their operations affect the environment.
Warren has never hidden her distrust for cryptocurrencies and other related technologies.
Bitcoin mining involves the use of super computers and multiple servers to solve complex equations. The solution of the equations leads to the formation of a new unit in the bitcoin network called a “block.”
Miners get Bitcoin rewards for every block they successfully create on the Bitcoin network (Blockchain).
In mid-September, Warren pressured the chairman of the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate increasing digital currency oversight. She has also criticized cryptocurrencies in the past and she has cited the environmental impact of bitcoin mining on several occasions.
On December 2, Warren forwarded a letter she sent to the CEO of the New York bitcoin mining firm Greenidge Generation Holdings, Jeff Kirt, to the popular publication, Bloomberg.
“Given the extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with bitcoin mining, mining operations at Greenidge and other plants raise concerns about their impacts on the global environment, on local ecosystems, and on consumer electricity costs,” Warren’s letter highlights.
The senator also shared the Bloomberg article via her official Twitter account and continued:
“Crypto mining has huge environmental costs & is raising energy prices for consumers. Bitcoin alone consumes as much energy as Washington state. I’m calling on Bitcoin company [Greenidge Generation] to provide information on its operations & environmental impact.”
According to Bloomberg, this is the first time the senator is directing questions at a particular crypto mining company. The senator further told Bloomberg that lawmakers need to understand these mining facilities and how they work more.
“We need to better understand how much energy facilities like Greenidge are using, how much they’re emitting into the environment, and what impact they’re having on electricity prices for American consumers,” she emphasized.
Meanwhile, Greenidge Generation, the bitcoin mining firm, has stated on several occasions that the company leverages green solutions to mine bitcoin (BTC). The Greenidge Generation power plant in Dresden, NY uses “natural gas to generate electricity.”
Furthermore, “Greenidge Generation runs at new levels of thermodynamic efficiency, achieving historic lows in the cost of producing power,” the company explained to popular crypto site, Bitcoin.com.
Greenidge isn’t the first and will not be the last Bitcoin mining company to face queries due to the source of their mining power. Earlier in the year, China banned all crypto mining activity in the country because of their focus on renewable energy.
More mining firms need to find a renewable and sustainable source of energy to run their business or else, they might keep answering questions for a long time.
