Biden administration unveils ‘emergency’ Bitcoin mining survey
US miners must disclose the number of ASIC miners, the models, and the ages of those machines.
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The Biden administration is launching an emergency data collection initiative targeting cryptocurrency mining operations in the United States, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced yesterday, according to the EIA’s press release.
The EIA, the statistical agency within the Department of Energy, said it is “initiating a provisional survey of electricity consumption information from identified cryptocurrency mining companies” starting next week. The mining companies will have to comply with the data request, which was authorized as an “emergency collection” by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The survey is titled “Proposed Emergency Survey – Cryptocurrency Mining Facilities.”
“We intend to continue to analyze and write about the energy implications of cryptocurrency mining activities in the United States,” said EIA Administrator Joe DeCarolis. “We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving, identify geographic areas of high growth, and quantify the sources of electricity used to meet cryptocurrency mining demand.”
Based on the specific information being requested, the EIA appears to be creating a detailed registry of mining operations nationwide. The agency is asking for data such as the make-up of mining fleets and hashrate information.
Biden has declared a Federal "emergency" because #bitcoin is winning pic.twitter.com/NwxLxHynQ9
— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) January 31, 2024
Mining companies will be required to provide extensive data about their firms and the locations of their mining centers, including geographic coordinates. They must disclose the total electricity consumption at each facility, regardless of whether the miner controls all the energy use.
Additionally, miners must reveal the percentage of the facility’s power that goes specifically to crypto mining and identify their electric utility provider.
The EIA also wants specifics on mining equipment. For each facility, miners will have to disclose the number of ASIC miners, the models and ages of those machines to determine energy needs, and the maximum hashrate performance during the reporting period.
The Biden administration’s interest in closely monitoring Bitcoin mining energy usage comes on the heels of reiterating last year that it wants to impose a federal 30% tax on electricity costs for all mining operations.
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