Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms posted a tongue-in-cheek video and a written statement defending itself after The New York Times published a story about the “enormous carbon pollution” and high electricity costs created by the mining industry. We were especially disappointed to read a false and distorted view of our company and our industry in the article published by The NYT. Worse still, The NYT chose to publish the article with information its authors knew to be false. The Times estimated that 96% of the power used by Riot comes from fossil fuels and found that in Texas, increased demand from mining resulted in electric bills nearly 5% higher, another $1.8 billion a year. The additional use of power causes as much carbon pollution as adding 3.5 million gas-powered cars to America’s roads. The Times reported that Riot’s mine in Rockdale, Texas, “uses about the same amount of electricity as the nearest 300,000 homes, making it the most power-intensive Bitcoin mining operation in America.” bitcoin miner by market cap, said its data center uses electricity from the Texas grid, which it claimed is the cleanest and most renewable energy-sourced grid in the United States.
Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms responds to NYT with cheeky video saying facility doesn’t literally produce CO2
