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Editor鈥檚 note: Mergers & Money is a monthly column by Senior Reporter Chris Metinko that covers dealmaking and the flow of venture capital in the enterprise tech space.

It is sometimes easy to think everything in the world of crypto is cheery鈥攚ith new unicorns minted almost weekly and new dedicated venture funds constantly launching.

However, a couple of recent events highlighted one concern鈥攅nergy consumption鈥攖hat while unlikely to derail the industry, certainly has the potential to disrupt the digital currency sectors as ESG concerns become more prominent among investors and energy prices continue to spike.

Last Wednesday, U.S. House Rep. sent a to the to make sure cryptocurrency mining facilities are not violating foundational environmental statutes like the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act.

鈥淲e have serious concerns regarding reports that cryptocurrency facilities across the country are polluting communities and are having an outsized contribution to greenhouse gas emissions,鈥� reads the letter signed by more than 20 other Democrats in the House.

The next day, Denver-based landed a $350 million Series C equity round led by . The company harnesses natural gas that is typically burned during oil extraction鈥攁 process called flaring.

While that natural gas can be used to power anything, Crusoe said it planned to use the new funding to 鈥渄eploy large scale Bitcoin mining and cloud computing infrastructure.鈥� Just last month, Bloomberg the U.S.鈥� biggest oil producer, , had already been partnering with Crusoe in North Dakota since early 2021 to help slash emissions.

Environmental concerns

While the federal government’s interest in the energy used for crypto mining and Crusoe鈥檚 investment are not directly related, they do speak to concerns around the amount of power consumed for crypto mining.

Huffman鈥檚 letter cites statistics from a recent out of Europe that shows annual e-waste generated by Bitcoin alone adds up to 30,700 metric tons as of last May. In addition, Bitcoin annually produces carbon emissions comparable to Greece, according to estimates by researchers.

The letter also states that 鈥渆fforts are currently underway to re-open closed gas and coal facilities to power the cryptocurrency industry and undermine our battle to combat the climate crisis.鈥�

Of course, this is not the first time the federal government has chimed in about crypto鈥檚 environmental toll. Huffman鈥檚 letter comes a month after 鈥檚 on crypto asked for a report in six months that should 鈥渁ddress the effect of cryptocurrencies鈥� consensus mechanisms on energy usage.鈥�

The U.S. is far from alone in watching the environmental effects of crypto. China 鈥攁fter making crypto transactions illegal鈥攃iting its effects on the environment and the country鈥檚 pursuit of carbon neutrality.

Investment

With Washington starting to at least threaten a more watchful eye on crypto mining and both energy prices and environmental concerns on the rise, it would logically seem a ripe space for venture dollars.

However, according to , funding to companies specializing simultaneously in both crypto and renewable energy has not taken off. Only a handful of startups have received funding in the space in the last couple of years, including:

• New York-based , which operates renewable energy data centers, has raised a total of $2.6 million.
• New York-based , an energy-industry services provider offering a cryptocurrency-mini-as-a-service platform, has raised a total of $3 million.
• Greece-based , which offers mining directly at clean energy sources, raised an undisclosed round early last year.

Other companies, such as New York-based 鈥檚 mining operation, also claim to be completely .

However, with Crusoe鈥檚 large round鈥攚hich also included credit facilities of up to $155 million鈥攁nd of other large energy giants, including diverting natural gas from oil operations to a Bitcoin pilot project, it is fair to wonder when startups that specialize in clean (or at least cleaner) mining will start to receive venture capital love.

Some mining companies like Colorado-based and have already seen exits to the public market, so investors can envision a liquidity end game regarding the mining industry as a whole.

If government intervention occurs and energy prices continue to rise, clean crypto mining tech may be the next aspect of the sector to explode.

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