US' 7 Largest Bitcoin Mining Companies Use Same Amount of Energy at Houston

Seven of the largest Bitcoin mining companies in the U.S. consume almost the same amount of electricity as the city of Houston, according to an investigation by congressional Democrats, reported by the New York Times. 

The data showed that the seven companies in question alone had set up to consume 1,045 megawatts of power, which is similar in power to the nation's fourth-largest city, Houston, which houses 2.3 million residents. 

One of the largest crypto mining companies in the U.S., Marathon Digital Holdings, stated it had 33,000 mining rigs as of February of this year, which puts them up 2,000 rigs since the beginning of 2021. The mining company isn’t stopping there; they have plans to increase their number of rigs by 166,000, by early 2023. 

Overall these seven crypto mining companies plan to increase their total mining by at least 2,399 megawatts, which is roughly a 230% increase from their current levels. That additional wattage is enough energy to power 1.9 million residences. So instead of powering Houston with 2.3 million residents, these companies could theoretically power Los Angeles with close to 4 million residents if they carry through with their plans. 

This recent report by the New York Times goes hand in hand with data from an AltCryptoGems tweet which noted the US has picked up its mining operations to become the highest BTC hash rate contributor in January 2022. With 37.84% of the total mining power, the U.S. seemed to ramp up its production with China and Kazakhstan coming in at numbers two and three respectively. 

The United States has seen an increase in cryptocurrency miners, who use energy-intensive computers to mine or create digital currencies. Senator Elizabeth Warren and her fellow democrats are calling for more regulations regarding crypto mining and asking miners to report their emissions of carbon dioxide. 

“The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining could undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis - not to mention the harmful impacts crypto mining has on local environments and electricity prices,” Warren and her colleagues wrote to six crypto mining companies earlier this year. “We need more information on the operations of these crypto mining companies to understand the full scope of the consequences for our environment and local communities.” 

This announcement comes roughly a month after New York lawmakers passed legislation to impose a two-year ban on new cryptocurrency mining permits, specifically at fossil-fuel burning plants, according to the New York Times.

Author: Tyler Irvin

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