Judge ruling favors Riot in case against energy officials

Riot Platforms and The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) have secured a favorable ruling in their lawsuit against multiple U.S. energy officials, including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

According to a filing dated Feb. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Riot and the TBC successfully convinced the district judge that immediate harm would occur without a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt further data collection.

On Feb. 25, the court granted a TRO preventing the Energy Information Administration (EIA) —which is part of the DOE — from compelling crypto miners to participate in a survey and sharing collected data.

The TRO prohibits the EIA as well as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from requiring crypto miners to respond to the survey and share any data already collected.

The TBC and Riot Platforms argued that the potential damages include non-recoverable costs of compliance, a credible threat of prosecution, and the disclosure of proprietary information.

The court’s decision was based on evidence presented by the plaintiffs, demonstrating potential damages such as non-recoverable compliance costs, threats of prosecution for non-compliance, and risks of disclosing proprietary information.

As reported by crypto.news earlier, Riot Platforms celebrated generating total revenues of $281 million, mining 6,626 Bitcoins, and accruing $71 million in power credits in 2023.

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Bitcoin mining sector sees immense growth

In 2023, the public Bitcoin mining sector raised $1.63 billion in equity through public sales, firming up their balance sheets and eliminating debt.

Meanwhile, the rise in power demand reflects a rebound in Bitcoin prices from a low of $16,611 on Jan. 1 to top $44,000 on Dec. 20, leading to concerns over the industry’s impact on the environment.

In other news, Riot Platforms made a significant move in the Bitcoin mining sector by acquiring 18 EH/s of hash rate from MicroBT and securing a long-term supply agreement. This acquisition involves purchasing 66,560 latest-generation Bitcoin miners, adding to a previous order of 33,280 miners.

The total consideration for this deal is $290.5 million, aiming to boost Riot’s mining capacity to over 38 EH/s by the second half of 2025.

The purchase includes MicroBT’s M66S model miners, manufactured in the U.S. for immersion cooling. Riot also has options to buy up to 265,000 additional miners, potentially increasing its self-mining capacity to over 100 EH/s.

This strategic move aligns with Riot’s goal of becoming a leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.

The agreement with MicroBT signifies Riot’s commitment to hash rate growth and operational expansion, showcasing a strong partnership between the two companies

On Feb. 24, the U.S. DOE agreed to temporarily suspend its emergency survey of energy use by cryptocurrency miners after Bitcoin mining groups sued the Biden administration over energy use data demand.

Read more: Bitcoin mining hits record high difficulty