Chinese lithium mining and battery companies are splurging big, both at home and abroad. It’s all part of the country’s race to secure supplies of the battery metals and to expand production capacity of lithium-ion batteries, for which demand is forecast to rocket over the next decade. One senior industry […]
Mining
Bitcoin mining is not climate-friendly. Can it be?
This story is part of Recode by Vox’s Tech Support series, which explores solutions for our warming world. People have many feelings about bitcoin. It’s the cryptocurrency that started it all, the progenitor of a thousand memes, a thousand more questions, multiple dubious salary decisions, and an entire industry built […]
For Small Towns Betting On Bitcoin, Mining Companies Are A Flight Risk
When the Chinese government banned all crypto mining in summer last year, the crypto mining company BitFuFu packed its 80,000 high-powered computers into containers and trucked them across the border to Kazakhstan, where electricity was cheap and regulations lax. Then, months later, when persistent electricity shortages in Kazakhstan forced the […]
After Chinese Ban, Cryptocurrency Mining Got Worse for Climate
China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies upended the world of Bitcoin last year, triggering a mass exodus of “miners” — who use power-hungry computers to mine, or create, new Bitcoins — to new locations around the world. Now, research has found that the exodus likely made cryptomining, which already uses more electricity […]
Crypto billionaire Novogratz’s firm takes on green crypto mining
Galaxy Digital, the cryptocurrency investment management firm owned by financier Michael Novogratz, has launched an ESG program focused on employing responsible environmental practices in bitcoin mining. The financial technology manager said it will actively seek to improve its environmental and carbon footprint. Galaxy Digital’s initiative is an extension of the […]
Putin Says Russia Has a “Competitive Advantage” in Crypto Mining
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a point to rethink the recent crypto ban proposed by the country’s central bank. Speaking at a video conference with government ministers on Wednesday, he said that there are “competitive advantages” in crypto mining. Given the surplus amount of electricity in Russia, coupled with “well-trained” […]
US lawmakers probe into crypto mining companies’ energy use
Democratic lawmakers are pushing Bitcoin mining companies in the US to divulge how much electricity they use in an effort to assess how that will impact nearby residents and the environment. Eight members of Congress sent letters yesterday to six companies that mine Bitcoin in the US asking them about […]
EU should ban energy-intensive mode of crypto mining, regulator says
Miners have pushed into countries with plenty of wind and solar power following China’s crackdown © Akos Stiller/Bloomberg A top EU financial regulator has renewed calls for a bloc-wide “ban” on the main form of bitcoin mining and sounded the alarm over the rising proportion of renewable energy devoted to […]