United States Crypto Miners Are Now Using as Much Power as Houston

Even if the market isn't growing in terms of profits, miners are consuming more energy.

The New York Times reported this week that only seven of the biggest mining companies in the country use the same amount of electricity as the homes in Houston. Democrats argued that miners should be required to report their energy use.

In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and five other Congress members said that the data shows that the amount of carbon emissions is growing. The full scope of the activity is unknown.

Shut Down

Congress asked the companies to give their data over. The company told Congress that it had doubled the number of mining rigs it had in the previous year. There will be as many as 199,000 rigs within the next two years.

There's something fascinatingly ironic about these seven companies sucking up as much power as Houston, even though some of their rigs had to shut down because of the heat. The state's electric grid is having a hard time keeping residents' lights and air conditioning on in the heat. A few mining rigs went off the grid to help out.

There is no doubt that the environment is negatively impacted by the use of cryptocurrencies. The next congressional investigation may look at how much the industry contributes to climate change.

A study found that active supervolcano is causing ground above it to shift.