Guest essay by Eric Worrall

The mind boggling energy burn required to verify each bitcoin payment or currency transfer is finally attracting the attention of Democrat Party climate advocates.

A Silicon Valley congressman says energy consumption from Bitcoin mining needs to be taxed

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And all that power usage — and its effect on the environment — is catching attention on Capitol Hill. In an interview with Business Insider, California Rep. Ro Khanna said that Bitcoin mining should be regulated in the same fashion as proposed carbon taxes.

“You could have environmental regulations of what could be used or a tax on the use of the mines that are going into the bitcoin, so that if they have externalities that they’re causing the environment, that they have to pay a tax on that,” he said.

Khanna, who represents part of Silicon Valley, added that a tax on bitcoin transactions’ energy consumption “would provide a disincentive” and “that mining that’s being used for bitcoin, they need to be paying a price on it.”

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