By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 3 July 2024
The Biden administration has proposed a 30% tax on the electricity used by bitcoin miners, known as the Digital Asset Mining Energy tax, with the stated aim of reducing the environmental and economic impact of mining. Harry Sudock, Chief Strategy Officer at GRIID, argues that the proposal fails to distinguish between peak and average electricity use and could discourage investment in new power generation.
Sudock points to Texas, where the ERCOT market lets prices float through the day and credits companies such as miners that adjust their consumption. He warns that miners could be scapegoated for shortages as demand rises from reshoring, data centres and AI, and that the tax would push them overseas to grids that are not as clean. Elliot David of Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol suggests the proposal was probably a signalling move with little chance of becoming law.