Riot secures favorable judge ruling in lawsuit against energy officials
Riot Platforms and The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) have achieved a positive outcome in their lawsuit against various U.S. energy officials, including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
In a filing dated Feb. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Riot and the TBC successfully persuaded the district judge that immediate harm would result without a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop further data collection.
On Feb. 25, the court granted a TRO that prevents the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which is part of the DOE, from forcing crypto miners to participate in a survey and share the collected data.
The TRO prohibits the EIA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from demanding that crypto miners respond to the survey and disclose any data that has already been collected.
The TBC and Riot Platforms argued that the potential damages include costs of compliance that cannot be recovered, a credible threat of prosecution, and the exposure of proprietary information.
The court’s decision was based on evidence presented by the plaintiffs, which demonstrated potential damages such as compliance costs that cannot be recovered, the threat of prosecution for non-compliance, and the risks associated with disclosing proprietary information.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot Platforms celebrated impressive achievements in 2023, including generating total revenues of $281 million, mining 6,626 Bitcoins, and accumulating $71 million in power credits.
In 2023, the public Bitcoin mining sector raised $1.63 billion in equity through public sales, strengthening their financial position and eliminating debt.
The increase in power demand reflects the rebound in Bitcoin prices, which rose from a low of $16,611 on Jan. 1 to surpass $44,000 on Dec. 20. This has raised concerns about the environmental impact of the industry.
In other news, Riot Platforms made a significant move in the Bitcoin mining sector by acquiring 18 EH/s of hash rate from MicroBT and securing a long-term supply agreement. This acquisition involves purchasing 66,560 latest-generation Bitcoin miners, in addition to a previous order of 33,280 miners.
The total cost of this deal is $290.5 million, with the aim of increasing Riot’s mining capacity to over 38 EH/s by the second half of 2025.
The purchase includes MicroBT’s M66S model miners, which are manufactured in the U.S. for immersion cooling. Riot also has options 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 objective of becoming a leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform.
The agreement with MicroBT demonstrates Riot’s commitment to increasing hash rate and expanding its operations, highlighting a strong partnership between the two companies.
On Feb. 24, the U.S. DOE agreed to temporarily suspend its emergency survey of energy use by cryptocurrency miners after Bitcoin mining groups filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the demand for energy use data.
Read more: Bitcoin mining reaches record-high difficulty.
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