Mining and ESG Regulation with Vinny Pardi, Ken Hayward, & (Moderator) Mark Artymko
Much ink has been spilled on the question of the energy footprint of proof of work mining. Today, Bitcoin, the most widely adopted proof of work cryptocurrency, uses about 0.12%, or 1/10 of one percent of the world’s total energy consumption. We often see media headlines that Bitcoin uses “as much energy as a small country.” This is true, but it fails to put that into
context or to consider how Bitcoin uses energy, the types of energy it is leveraging, and the potential it has to help stabilize the electric grid. Some contend that, if the proposition of Bitcoin pans out, such energy investment will be one of the greatest uses of economic energy in history. So, what is the real story, and how will governmental ESG (environmental, social and
governance) requirements help or hinder the burgeoning crypto industry?