The first Congressional hearing on bitcoin mining took place on Thursday after a U.S. House subcommittee scheduled it to get a better understanding of the environmental impacts of the industry. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado, said in her opening statement that despite the promising applications of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, mining’s energy usage and carbon emissions ought to be at the forefront of all discussions about cryptocurrency. “We cannot bring retired fossil fuel plants back online or delay the retirement of some of our oldest and least efficient plants in support of energy-intensive ... (full story)