Cyber Mining Research: How the US Tracks the Energy Consumption of Bitcoin Mining

The U.S. Energy Information Administration begins collecting data on Bitcoin Mining activities

The United States Office of Administration and Budget (OMB) has given permission to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to collect detailed information from mining companies regarding their consumption and use of electricity. This decision was made urgently amid growing concerns about the potential negative impact of mining activities on the electricity markets, especially in the context of the recent cold snap and the increase in the value of bitcoin, which stimulated the activity of cryptomineers.

Those responsible at the EIA expressed the hope that regular surveys and data collection will help to get a clear idea of how electricity is used in the cryptocurrency industry and present this information to the American public.

However, the decision of the authorities caused discontent in the crypto industry. Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, and Perian Boring, head of the U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce, said that the EIA's emergency data collection is an unlawful abuse of authority, and this can have serious consequences for all industry participants who depend on data processing centers. They criticize the actions of the EIA, seeing in them a political background and a desire to support the White House's desire to reduce the number of mining companies and threaten to use all legal means to revoke this permission.

Meanwhile, the CleanSpark mining company announced the expansion of its operations, acquiring three new farms in Mississippi and planning to double the hashrate of its installations ahead of the upcoming halving on the Bitcoin network, which implies a decrease in the reward for the mined block and can potentially affect mining profitability.

These decisions exacerbate the already tense dialogue between the crypto industry and government regulators, highlighting the contradictions and different interests between the sustainable use of resources and innovative technologies such as blockchain.