Bitfury CEO: Bitcoin mining used about 58% sustainable energy for mining last year

On January 21, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce held an oversight hearing on the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies on January 20. Brian Brooks, former acting OCC director and now CEO of Bitfury, said, “An activity that consumes 100 TW of pure coal or oil to generate electricity will add carbon to the environment and consume scarce resources; an activity that consumes the same amount of electricity as solar, wind and The activity of the hydropower mix does not have either of these effects.” He provided data showing that about 58% of the energy mix used by bitcoin mining last year was sustainably sourced, including wind, hydro, solar, nuclear power and carbon offsets, compared to 31% for the entire U.S. energy grid. Soluna CEO John Belizaire and Jordan Ramis PC shareholder Gregory Zerzan said crypto mining actually helps renewable energy producers sell electricity that would otherwise be wasted, giving them much-needed funds. Much of the hearing focused on the fundamentals of blockchain technology, educating lawmakers about different verification models (such as PoS) as well as some of the cybersecurity issues of blockchain networks, such as 51% attacks. Several lawmakers also asked about unexpected positives or negatives that Bitcoin mining might have.