El Salvador, the first nation to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, has recently announced the relaunch of its wallet app Chivo, which is supposed to patch the previous version’s stability and scalability issues. The update is welcomed news for the Central American country’s crypto experiment, which faced some hurdles and harsh criticism over the last few months. While much of the observers’ attention has been focused on aspects such as retail adoption of crypto and geopolitical implications of Bitcoin’s legal status in El Salvador, the progress of the nation’s mining industry toward achieving President Bukele’s moonshot vision has been …

On Jan. 27, a group of eight U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, sent letters to the world’s six largest Bitcoin mining companies, demanding to reveal the detailed data on their electricity consumption. This isn’t the first time Senator Warren requested this information from a mining operation — last month a similar letter was sent to Greenidge Generation, which uses a natural gas plant to power its facility. These moves highlight the increasing regulatory pressure on crypto mining businesses in the United States. But, as last week’s Congress hearing showed, the growing scrutiny might turn out to be an …

Bitcoin (BTC) seems to be on everyone’s mind lately as the world recently witnessed the price of BTC take a rather unexpected bearish turn this month. On January 21, 2022, Bitcoin reached six-month lows, sinking below $40,000 for the first time in months. While some panicked, other industry experts pointed out that the Bitcoin network has become verifiably stronger than ever before. The growth of the Bitcoin network has become apparent, as hash rate figures for BTC continue to set new highs this month. For example, on Jan. 22, the BTC network recorded an all-time high of 26.643 trillion with …

It was only a matter of time before China slapped a ban on Bitcoin (BTC) mining, trading and crypto services. To do anything with Bitcoin anywhere in the People’s Republic, one needs a special exemption. The Chinese government’s given reason for the Bitcoin crackdown is to reduce its well-documented climate impact. Regardless of the amount of truth in this explanation, one thing is clear: China’s righteous anger toward electricity-guzzling and carbon-spewing mined cryptocurrencies in the service of Earth’s climate is only the first shot in an impending global showdown over Bitcoin and other crypto projects that rely on proof-of-work (PoW), …

Five industry experts appearing before the United States House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee had different views on how lawmakers should address the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies. In written testimony released before a Thursday hearing on “Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains,” former Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks argued that the energy consumption of Bitcoin (BTC) mining was “economically productive” given other assets including gold required roughly the same amount of energy for mining, with the “a host of other environmental concerns.” In addition, Brooks said that the traditional global banking system consumed roughly 2.5 times the …

The percentage of the global Bitcoin mining industry running on renewable power increased by 1% to 58.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021 according to new data. The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) announced the findings of its fourth quarter survey on Jan. 18. The survey focused on three metrics: sustainable power mix, technological efficiency and electricity consumption. Q4 #Bitcoin Mining Council Survey Confirms Improvements in Sustainable Power Mix and Technological Efficiency. Estimated sustainable energy mix was 58.5%. Join us at 5pm ET today for a full briefing.https://t.co/t1gTZV9GtT — Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) January 18, 2022 Founded in May 2021, the BMC …

As U.S. Congress is preparing to take a thorough look at the energy use of crypto mining, the list of witnesses for the Thursday hearing contains more proponents of blockchain technology than its outright critics. The House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee announced a hearing on “Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains” last week, with the event itself scheduled for Jan. 20. The focus of the hearing will be on the energy and environmental effects of crypto mining, specifically as it relates to networks that use proof-of-work, or PoW, consensus mechanism. A Committee on Energy and Commerce staff …

The police in Kosovo have ramped up their efforts to crack down on crypto miners in the country, confiscating more than 300 mining machines on Jan. 8 alone. An announcement issued by the Kosovo police on Jan. 8 revealed that it had seized 272 “Antminer” Bitcoin mining machines in the municipality of Leposavic, and another 39 mining machines near Prishtina. Meanwhile, the police also stopped a driver carrying 6 crypto mining machines with 42 graphics cards (GPUs) near Druar, in Vushtrri. The driver has since been interviewed and released. The Minister for Economy Artane Rizvanolli tweeted her support for the …

Bitcoin influencer and podcaster Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano said that there is no need to “apologize” for Bitcoin’s energy use, because “crucial things in the world use energy.” He made the comments in a Dec 27 interview on CNBC’s morning news and talk program, “Squawk Box” with Joe Kernen. During the interview, he claimed that many people are missing “key points” in the “climate argument” against the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem, especially in terms of comparisons with fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar: “There is a linear relationship between energy consumption and the dollar system, to support more users and more transactions, …

Bitcoin (BTC) is often used to criticize all blockchain-based projects. This is understandable since Bitcoin was the first project to use a blockchain, is arguably the most recognizable and is the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. In the first half of this article, I will use Bitcoin as a proxy for all blockchain-based projects because most people associate blockchain with Bitcoin. Anything environmentally positive that can be said about Bitcoin will be doubly true for the vast majority of newer blockchain-based projects since Bitcoin uses the oldest version of blockchain technology. Blockchain energy consumption Bitcoin has been attacked for high …

A transaction on the Solana network takes less energy than two Google searches, and 24 times less energy than charging your phone, according to a Nov. 25 report by the Solana Foundation. The report states that a single transaction on its network uses 0.00051 kWh, or 1,836 Joules, of energy. According to Google, an average search uses 0.0003 kWh or 1,080 Joules of energy. Perhaps more surprisingly, the report claims the entire Solana network uses an estimated 3,186,000 kWh per year, which is equivalent to the average electricity usage of 986 American households. In May, the Solana Foundation contracted Robert …

Swedish financial watchdog’s call for a European Union-wide ban on proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining, mainly known as the method of minting new Bitcoin (BTC), has received backlash from crypto-related fund managers. Melanion Capital, a Paris-based alternative investment firm known for its Bitcoin ETF, addressed the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s call to ban PoW mining across Europe. “The claim that Bitcoin miners jeopardize the electricity network is completely misinformed,” noted Melanion, reminding that Bitcoin miners’ business model is prone to collapse when the electricity demand increases as it would also increase energy prices. The statement points …