Blockchain Association director confirms there is no active legislation in the US Congress to ban Bitcoin mining
The director of the Blockchain Association brings an important message to crypto stakeholders.
Ron Hammond, director of government relations at the Blockchain Association, has commented on the recently published White House report on the energy implications of cryptocurrency mining.
According to Hammond, there is no active legislation in Congress that seeks to ban the mining of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that use the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. He added that even if Congress chooses to introduce a bill to ban crypto mining, politicians would not have enough time to consider and vote on the legislation to pass it.
However, he believes that the report from the White House is an important wake-up call for the industry to start preparing before such legislation is introduced before the US Congress.
“Just a reminder that there is no active legislation in Congress that would ban crypto-asset mining. Even if one were to be introduced today, Congress would not have enough time or votes to pass it. Yet the White House report an important wake-up call for the industry,” Hammond said.
Just a reminder that there is no active legislation in Congress that would ban crypto asset mining. Even if one were to be introduced today, Congress would not have enough time or votes to pass it. Nevertheless, the report from the White House is an important wake-up call for the industry.
— Ron Hammond (@RonwHammond) 9 September 2022
Resentment against cryptomining
Several nations have kicked against cryptocurrency mining, especially Bitcoin, over the years due to the energy crisis the activity causes. Aside from power issues, crypto mining is also believed to have serious environmental impacts due to its enormous energy.
In a recent report, the White House noted that cryptocurrency mining causes emissions of greenhouse gases via the large energy consumption. According to the report, cryptomining activities consumed between 120 billion and 240 billion kilowatts per year.
The report suggested that cryptocurrency miners should seek help from various US agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency. Furthermore, miners have been encouraged to consider adopting green crypto mining, as failure to do so could result in the activity being banned.
An extract from the report reads:
“Should these measures prove ineffective in mitigating the impacts, the administration should investigate executive actions. Congress may consider legislation to limit or eliminate the use of high-energy-intensive consensus mechanisms for mining cryptoassets.”
Moves to prevent a general bank for crypto mining
The possibility of seeing a bill banning cryptocurrency mining cannot be ruled out. Crypto firms are already taking important steps to prevent such a move from happening.
Both cryptocurrency and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have collaborated to develop carbon solutions to mitigate the effects of crypto-mining and other environmental threats.
As reported by TheCryptoBasic, Chris Larsen, the chairman of Ripple, pledged 5 million dollars to support a campaign that could make Bitcoin change its code to consume less energy.
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