US lawmakers demand 'diversity information' from 20 cryptocurrency firms

[U.S. legislators require 20 cryptocurrency companies to provide "diversified information"] Golden Finance reported that Maxine Waters, chairman of the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and other members of Congress, including Joyce Beatty, wrote to 20 U.S. cryptocurrency companies, urging them to provide information about their More information on inclusion practices. The letter to the companies included a questionnaire asking crypto companies to describe what diversity and inclusion practices they had implemented in the last year. It is reported that the 20 cryptocurrency companies include Coinbase, FTX, Binance.US, AAVE, etc. The deadline to respond to this letter is September 2. (The Block)

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U.S. lawmakers sent letters to four mining companies asking about the environmental impact of mining: Jinse Finance reported that U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers, House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote to Core Scientific, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain and Stronghold Digital Mining to understand the area The impact of blockchain mining technology on the environment. The committee said it was studying the impact of proof-of-work (PoW) and how it relates to emissions and “excess e-waste.” The letter reads: “While we understand that blockchain technology has enormous potential to make our personal information more secure and cost-effective, the energy consumption and hardware required to support PoW-based cryptocurrencies may in some cases May generate severe external pollution and excess e-waste in the form of harmful emissions".

The committee requested information on how much energy each company’s mining facilities used in 2021, what energy sources, and the proportion of energy use that was offset by renewable energy credits, and asked how many days in the past 12 months the company suspended mining to support grid stability reliability, as well as the average cost per MWh and profit per MWh per facility. [2022/8/19 12:35:23]

Today in History丨U.S. Lawmakers Urge Trump Advisers to Push Blockchain Technology: On May 29, 2019, a group of U.S. lawmakers urged U.S. President Trump’s advisers to include blockchain in their list of emerging technology initiatives. The bipartisan letter, spearheaded by U.S. Representatives Trey Hollingsworth and Darren Soto, asks the National Economic Council to host a forum on the nascent technology and include blockchain on the list of technologies the Trump administration will promote. In the letter, the lawmakers stated that in order to maintain the United States' position as a world leader in technological innovation, the United States should cooperate with policymakers, the private sector and academia to promote the research and development of blockchain technology; benefits of public use; collaborate on cross-sectoral policy, standards development, scalability, and implementation issues; and discuss potential regulatory approaches. Soto, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that blockchain has great potential to benefit society and boost economic growth.

On May 29, 2018, New York-based blockchain startups CLS and R3 told Reuters that foreign exchange settlement service provider CLS had invested $5 million in R3. David Rutter, CEO of R3, said that for companies in the blockchain field, it is the right idea to continue to make their products and services faster, more convenient, safer, and more in line with the needs of end users. [2020/5/29]

News | U.S. lawmakers strongly urge the IRS to update crypto tax guidance: According to coindesk, a group of U.S. lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide taxpayers with comprehensive guidance on cryptocurrency investment or trading gains. “We are writing again today to urge the IRS to issue updated guidance to provide greater clarity for taxpayers to better understand and comply with their tax obligations when using virtual currencies,” the lawmakers said. The letter added that Chairman Brady's House Ways and Means Committee will also ask the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of the matter. [2018/9/21]