It looks like Biden and his cronies are working on a new set of crypto policies designed to tackle the allegedly high electricity usage of assets like bitcoin and Ethereum.
Biden Is Going After Crypto
This is an old-as-the-dickens argument that for one reason or another, continues to hold sway in the world of digital currencies. Many people are fully convinced that mining crypto is allegedly bad for the environment and likely to put the planet in harm’s way.
These new policies have recently come to light, and it looks like the Biden Administration is working to limit the reportedly growing carbon footprint of the crypto industry. A White House official named Costa Samaras – principal assistant director for energy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy – explained in a recent interview:
It’s important, if this is going to be part of our financial system in any meaningful way, that it’s developed responsibly and minimizes total emissions. When we think about digital assets, it has to be a climate and energy conversation.
Things will ultimately start with a study, which is set to be released in early August of this year. That study will focus on the positives and negatives that potentially come with the extraction of crypto units from the blockchain. Samaras explained:
We’ve seen reports about noise, local pollution, and older fossil generators being restarted in communities. These are not trivial loads.
It doesn’t help when industry leaders have the wrong information about crypto usage. Some of these leaders include men like Elon Musk, who caused the crypto scene to tank heavily last year when he decided – after just a few short weeks – that he was worried about the energy prospects of crypto mining and thus was cancelling a prior decision to allow Tesla customers to purchase electric vehicles with the world’s number one digital currency by market cap.
Samaras continued with:
We need to think about the appropriate policy responses under a world that shifted to proof of stake or a world that has some continuous mix of proof of work and proof of stake. Proof of work is energy intensive by design, but it also increases security.
A Swaying Hand Over the Space
Biden has made crypto something of a primary focus in politics during the previous months. He recently issued a crypto executive order that requested many financial agencies in the U.S. to examine the crypto space and see what advantages and risks the space presented. The order also potentially opened the door to a digital version of USD.
At the same time, for all the policy discussions occurring as of late, Biden has overseen bitcoin experience one its biggest crashes yet. The currency – which was trading at a new all-time high in November of last year – is now stuck in the low $30,000 range.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/biden-seeks-to-limit-cryptos-carbon-footprint/