Riot Platforms and the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) have obtained favorable judgments in lawsuits against multiple U.S. energy officials, including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
According to a Feb. 22 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Riot and TBC told a district judge that without a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt further data collection, immediate harm would occur. I succeeded in persuading him.
On February 25, a court granted a TRO to prevent the Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of the DOE, from forcing cryptocurrency miners to participate in investigations and share the data they collect.
The TRO prohibits the EIA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from requiring cryptocurrency miners to respond to surveys and share data already collected.
TBC and Riot Platform argued that potential damages include irrecoverable compliance costs, credible threats of prosecution, and leakage of confidential information.
The court's decision was based on evidence submitted by plaintiffs that demonstrated potential harms such as irrecoverable compliance costs, threat of prosecution for noncompliance, and risk of disclosure of confidential information.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot Platforms celebrated mining 6,626 Bitcoins in 2023, earning $71 million in power credits and generating $281 million in total revenue.
Bitcoin mining sector experiences incredible growth
In 2023, the public Bitcoin mining arm raised $1.63 billion in equity through a public sale, strengthening its balance sheet and eliminating debt.
Meanwhile, the increase in electricity demand reflects the recovery in Bitcoin prices from a low of $16,611 on January 1st to a high of $44,000 on December 20th, as the industry This has led to concerns about the impact on
In other news, Riot Platforms made a big move in the Bitcoin mining sector by acquiring a hash rate of 18 EH/s from MicroBT and securing a long-term supply contract. This acquisition includes the purchase of 66,560 latest generation Bitcoin miners, in addition to the 33,280 miners in the previous order.
The transaction has a total consideration of $290.5 million and aims to increase Riot's mining capacity to over 38 EH/s by the second half of 2025.
The purchase includes MicroBT's M66S model miner, manufactured in the USA for immersion cooling. Riot also has the option to purchase up to 265,000 additional miners, potentially increasing its self-mining capacity to over 100 EH/s.
This strategic move aligns with Riot's goal of becoming the leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.
The agreement with MicroBT represents Riot's commitment to Hashrate's growth and expansion, and demonstrates the strong partnership between both companies.
On February 24, the U.S. Department of Energy agreed to suspend an emergency investigation into energy use by crypto miners after a Bitcoin mining group sued the Biden administration over its demand for energy use data.
