Suit ends survey of energy use by crypto

The Department of Energy agreed to scrap its emergency survey of how cryptocurrency miners use electricity, settling a lawsuit brought by the Texas Blockchain Council, a trade association of Texas cryptocurrency miners, and Riot Platforms, a bitcoin miner in Texas.

The agreement comes one week after a federal judge approved a temporary restraining order pausing the survey, initiated by the Energy Information Administration, the DOE’S information analysis arm. The EIA also agreed to destroy any data it received from the survey, which required miners to report their energy consumption monthly from February through July.

Under the agreement’s terms, the EIA can still move forward with a new proposal to collect information from cryptocurrency miners but must allow for public comment before approving it.

“We’re hopeful we can work with companies in the cryptocurrency mining industry to provide the American public with a clear understanding of energy use from cryptocurrency mining operations in the United States, much in the same way we do with other industries,” an EIA representative said in an email statement.

Cryptocurrency miners celebrated their win against the EIA’S mandatory data collection, which they claimed was a politically-motivated overreach against their industry.

The EIA was seeking information Riot Platforms didn’t believe it was entitled to, such as machine specifications and confidential energy contracts, said Brian Morgenstern, the company’s head of public policy. A non-emergency proposal involving public comment would allow the industry to raise these concerns to the EIA, he said.