RIYADH: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded lower on Monday, down 1.29 percent to $39,166 at 08.30 a.m. Riyadh time.
Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,866, down 2.73 percent, according to data from Coindesk.
US Lawmakers call for more oversight of cryptocurrency's environmental impacts
Twenty-three US lawmakers have called for the US Environmental Protection Agency, known as EPA, to increase oversight of the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
“We request that the EPA evaluate ‘Proof-of-Work’ mining facilities’ compliance with environmental statutes,” they said.
“We have serious concerns regarding reports that cryptocurrency facilities across the country are polluting communities and are having an outsized contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.”
Among other claims, the lawmakers asserted that Proof-of-Work, known as PoW, mining contributes to significant greenhouse gas emissions and results in major electronic waste challenges due to the highly specialized and short-lived computing hardware needed to secure the network.
The lawmakers added: “The industry needs to be held accountable for this waste and discouraged from creating it.”
While the Congress members pointed out that “less energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining technologies, such as Proof-of-Stake, known as PoS, are available.”
In January Coinshares published a report showing that bitcoin’s mining infrastructure accounts for 0.08 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide production today, Bitcoin.com reported.
“Usage of energy is a contentious and much-misunderstood function of the Bitcoin monetary system,” Coinshares said.
Proof of Work algorithms reward miners for solving complex equations that consume a lot of time and energy, while the Proof of Stake algorithm does not consume much power
Indian banks block UPI for crypto transactions, seek explanation
According to a report published in the Economic Times, several leading Indian banks have asked the National Payments Corporation of India to clarify and issue a formal regulatory directive regarding the usage of UPI in cryptocurrency payments.
According to the report, several banks had blocked UPI for trading crypto based on “verbal instructions” from NPCI, and now they demand it in writing.
Coinbase CEO accuses Apple
Meanwhile, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has called Apple unfriendly toward the cryptocurrency industry in a recent podcast.
“Apple so far has not really played nice with crypto; they’ve actually banned a bunch of features that we would like to have in the app, but they just won’t allow it,” said Armstrong.
He also added that soon phone makers would build smartphones with crypto functionality in mind.
