U.S. Cryptomining Uses as Much Energy as the City of Houston

In a July 15 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and five other Democratic senators and congressmen reported that energy use from U.S. cryptomining firms is sufficient to power the entire city of Houston, Texas. Calling for greater transparency and information, including about cryptomining’s substantial carbon emissions, the letter notes that the U.S. has become the center of cryptomining after it was banned in China. In the case of the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, more than a third of the global computing power dedicated to its mining comes from the U.S.