The US cryptocurrency mining industry is forming a new lobby group, one of whose main goals is to dispel politicians' misconceptions about sustainability.
The Digital Energy Council was launched on August 15 to promote policies that promote digital asset mining and energy development.
Council founder and president Thomas Mapes told Cointelegraph that digital asset miners have had a unified voice in Washington "for a long time."
Mapes was previously the energy director of the Digital Chamber of Commerce. Previously, he was Chief of Staff for the US Department of Energy's Office of International Affairs.
Mapes said it was during his tenure at the Department of Energy that he began seeing cryptocurrency mining companies as an integral part of the energy ecosystem, feeding the grid in times of demand or buying excess electricity that would otherwise go unused. , among other benefits. . .
"I see them as the energy company of the future," he said, adding:
"I see energy companies, utilities, electricity providers, large corporations looking at this new technology and figuring out how they can participate."
However, Mapes said that many members of parliament still do not see the industry in the same light. "There have been laws against the industry for about a year," he said.
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In March, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced the reinstatement of a law that accuses cryptocurrency miners of "sucking megawatt after megawatt of our public grid" and releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases "just to make money." " " ".
Mapes cited Biden's proposed 30% excise tax on digital asset mining and the White House report on the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining.
Mapes confirmed that the association has several founding members, including cryptomining and energy companies, some of which are public companies.
