US mining giant Riot slams NY Times for ‘biased political reporting’

Misinformation about the mining industry

Riot Blockchain, a US crypto asset (virtual currency) mining company, issued an official statement on the 10th to protest against the content related to the mining industry that The New York Times (hereinafter referred to as NYT) reported the day before.

The NYT article titled “The Real Cost of Digital Competition for Bitcoin” describes the mining industry in its opening paragraph:

In a statement, Riot said the NYT article presented a “false and prejudiced view” of the company and the mining industry. He strongly accused the NYT of choosing to publish an article knowingly misleading information, ignoring the factual information provided by Riot.

Riot claimed that the information it provided in response to questions from the Times a few weeks before its publication was “blatantly ignored because it did not fit the scenario the Times sought to guide.” It published Riot’s full response to the NYT and refuted it by listing “comparisons to the most prominent flaws” in the article.

distorted point

Here’s what Riot has to say about the distorted reporting by the NYT:

• Facts about power usage of bitcoin mining facilities
• The relationship between mining, soaring electricity bills and carbon pollution costs
• Contracts with Texas Power Providers: Participation in Power Demand Response Programs
• Job creation by mining companies
• Proportion of electricity from renewable and fossil fuels
• Specific examples of electricity markets and electricity bill savings

The NYT compares electricity consumption of mining facilities to household consumption, a method Riot denounced as “arbitrary, inflammatory and political choice.” In fact, almost every industry that uses electricity, such as “manufacturing, other data centers, the steel industry, the chemical industry,” and even home air conditioners use “a higher percentage of fossil fuels” than bitcoin mining facilities. We are consuming more electricity that is generated,” he said.

Riot said that it would be short-sighted to link the soaring electricity prices to Bitcoin mining, as they are rising due to various factors such as monetary and fiscal policy, the energy policy of the US federal government, and the situation in Russia and Ukraine. is suggested. In fact, they argued that by buying power during off-peak hours and bidding for demand response programs during peak hours, they were actually helping to reduce electricity bills.

Riot also purchases electricity from the Texas power grid, which “uses around 24% wind power, 10% nuclear power, and 4% solar power,” and operates on 96% fossil fuel-derived power. refuted the NYT’s claim that it did.

On job creation, Riot stressed that it has many full-time employees locally, uses local vendors, and is the largest taxpayer in the counties and school districts in which it is based. The NYT “chosen to circumvent rather than acknowledge” the fact, even though it was provided with this information, the company said.

Satire video goes viral

Riot not only responded to the NYT article with a statement, but also posted a video on Twitter that read, “Bitcoin mining has zero carbon footprint.”

Bitcoin mining has zero carbon emissions. pic.twitter.com/dOO4wZpSW6

—Riot Platforms, Inc. (@RiotPlatforms) April 10, 2023

The satirical video features a helmeted Riot employee (played by research head Pierre Rochard) walking around measuring the carbon levels of mining facilities. It’s a mockery of the fact that the actual emission of carbon dioxide is the process of generating electricity, not the mining equipment that consumes it.

On Twitter, the number of views and likes for this video has surpassed that of the NYT.

connection:US-listed mining company Riot announces full-year financial results

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