The White House Wants Greener Bitcoin Mining

The White House today suggested that U.S regulators and lawmakers could soon come after cryptocurrency mining due to its power consumption.

In a report released on Thursday, mandated by President Biden in an executive order, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said crypto miners should reduce greenhouse gas emissions with help from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and other federal agencies.

It suggests that the government do more research on mining power consumption, advance energy efficiency standards, and it promoted the “use of environmentally responsible crypto-asset technologies.”

But the White House also went as far to say that if measures to make mining greener don’t work, energy-intensive crypto mining, namely Bitcoin, could be banned altogether.

“Should these measures prove ineffective at reducing impacts, the Administration should explore executive actions, and Congress might consider legislation, to limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining,” the report said.

Mining most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, use massive amounts of power. A lot of power is needed to verify the blocks of transactions on the blockchain, with most mining being done on an industrial level.

The U.S became a mining hub after China banned the operation, with most companies moving their operation stateside. A report added that the U.S. share of global mining from Bitcoin rose from 3.5% in 2020 to 38% now.

This could hinder U.S. “climate commitments and goals,” the report said.

Back in March, President Joe Biden signed an executive order intending to set a standard for regulating the crypto industry, including mining.

Today’s report also noted the difference between proof-of-work and proof-of-stake blockchains—and mentioned Ethereum’s long-awaited upgrade, known as “the merge.”

Next Week, Ethereum is planning to ove to a proof of stake protocol that is said to make the second largest cryptocurrency in the world, 99% more energy efficient, according to the Ethereum Foundation.

“There have been growing calls for [proof-of-work] blockchains to adopt less energy-intensive consensus mechanisms,” it said. “The most prominent reaction has been Ethereum’s promised launch of ‘Ethereum 2.0,’ which uses a [proof-of-stake] consensus mechanism.”

Some within the industry looked at Biden's executive order as a death knell for the sector, but mining regulation is needed to curb the narrative that crypto mining is inherently bad.