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US Senator Elizabeth Warren is requesting information on the operations of the country’s first carbon-neutral Bitcoin miner.
In the letter to Greenidge Generation Holdings Chief Executive Officer Jeff Kirt, Warren formally requested information on the company’s power production and Bitcoin mining operations in New York State. She said this information was necessary to understand the potential impact the company may be having on climate change, the local environment, and the cost of electricity for retail consumers.
“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,” the Senior Democratic Senator from Massachusetts wrote in the letter.
While known for her fiery disposition towards cryptocurrencies, this marks the first time Warren has pushed a specific crypto-related company for information. With energy consumption matching that of some large industrialized countries, mining is just another aspect of cryptocurrencies drawing fire.
Greenidge reply
Greenidge made a brief reply saying it would produce the requested information to demonstrate that “the facility meets all of New York’s nation-leading environmental standards, is bringing economic opportunity to an under-served area of the state and is a model for crypto mining with widespread local support.”
Greenidge, which listed on the Nasdaq earlier this year, touts itself as the first carbon-neutral Bitcoin miner in the U.S., after establishing its first plant in Dresden, New York, which is powered by natural gas. In addition to buying carbon offsets, the Atlas Holdings-controlled company plans to use zero- and low-carbon sources of electricity for future mining operations, such as in South Carolina.
Crypto in the House
Miners are not the only ones finding themselves increasingly finding themselves beholden to requests from Congress. Earlier this week, the House Financial Services Committee requested the appearance of several top executives of cryptocurrency-related companies to testify before them. Among those summoned include crypto exchange FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks.
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