US Senators Raise Crypto Mining Concerns, Propose Government Blockchains

Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources asked about the cost of cryptocurrency mining and the opportunities for blockchain in the public sector on Wednesday.

In contrast with past Congressional hearings which at times turned acrimonious toward the concept of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, senators on the Energy Committee largely inquired about how blockchain can be applied to various projects.

The people giving testimony were Robert Kahn, CEO and president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives; Paul Skare, chief cybersecurity and technical group manager of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Thomas Golden, program manager of technology innovation at the Electric Power Research Institute; Claire Henly, managing director of the Energy Web Foundation; and Arvind Narayanan, an associate professor of computer science at Princeton University.

In remarks, committee chair Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska noted the "Hearing will examine any cybersecurity advantages that blockchain and similar technologies might offer over other ways of securing our energy infrastructure."

The foremost risk discussed at the hearing revolved around the energy needs of cryptocurrency miners.

Networks relying on proof-of-work - which require the expense of energy to prove that "Work" has been completed - generally require large amounts of energy, such as the bitcoin blockchain, according to Golden.

The witnesses estimated that public blockchains may be using anywhere from one to as much as five gigawatts worldwide as Golden contended, "This is less than 0.1 percent of the global power usage."

At various times during the hearing, the conversation turned away from perceived problems and toward how blockchain could be applied to the energy sector, including for tracking shipments, validating security protocols or building on other existing technologies.

Senator Bill Cassidy notably asked about specific uses for the U.S. government, asking if it is technically feasible to develop a blockchain for federal governments to track shipments sent from one nation to another.

Lisa Murkowski image via Energy Committee livestream.