Top Bitcoin Miners Pressed by U.S. Lawmakers to Detail Climate Impact, Power Consumption

A group of Democratic lawmakers led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is demanding details from six of the world's biggest Bitcoin miners about their electricity consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions.

Cryptocurrencies have come under fire for their power consumption, which is comparable to the entire country of Argentina. The letters raise the stakes in Warren's campaign to crack down on wasteful operations after she sent a similar request last month to Greenidge Generation, which powers its upstate New York facility with a natural gas plant. They come as the industry reels from the collapse ofBitcoin.

Warren and seven other U.S. lawmakers wrote that mining operations raise concerns about their impacts on the global environment and consumer electricity costs.