Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who suspended his campaign to back Republican Donald Trump, but remains on the ballot in some states—is defending the Bitcoin mining industry from its chorus of media critics concerned about the industry’s impact on the environment.
In a letter to The Economist, Kennedy took issue with the publication’s characterization of the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining, writing that an energy system inclusive of miners is “far less carbon-intensive than a system with less renewable generation and ‘peaker’ plants.”
“You perpetuated common myths about Bitcoin mining while neglecting the real story: Bitcoin mining is a powerful new tool for supporting renewable-intensive grids,” wrote RFK Jr. in the published letter.
Kennedy referred to an article from late last month that highlighted the increasing presence of power-hungry Bitcoin miners in Texas, combined with the strain on the state’s electricity grid in recent years.
He countered that miners simply curtail their electricity consumption “in a matter of seconds” whenever prices rise too high, or the grid is in trouble.
Great letter on Bitcoin to @TheEconomist from @RobertKennedyJr today.
Every statement by RFK is backed up by both peer review research and the firsthand experience of grid operators.https://t.co/q4s86esEuC pic.twitter.com/JAzjJ1NP7X
— Daniel Batten (@DSBatten) September 19, 2024
In this way, miners don’t add to peak electricity demand, but still provide a steady source of income for the state’s energy providers when demand is low. This dynamic “is ideal for incentivizing the building of renewable generation while still reliably delivering power to homeowners and hospitals,” Kennedy wrote.
Miners also participate in demand-response programs in which they are paid by taxpayers for turning off their mining machines and selling energy back to the grid. In fact, many miners have made more money by participating in these programs than by actually mining Bitcoin—but Kennedy says the money is more than worth it.
“The grid-stabilizing behavior of Bitcoin miners puts them in direct competition with natural-gas ‘peaker’ plants, which run only during peak demand,” said Kennedy. “It is no surprise, then, that the industry lobbying Texas for more peaker-plant construction has also lobbied against its grid-balancing competition.”
Kennedy’s pro-miner argument has been repeatedly backed by industry experts and existing literature on Bitcoin’s relationship with the power grid.
In March, multiple public mining firms told Decrypt that carbon-free energy is their primary and cheapest source of power. Furthermore, a September 2023 study by Bloomberg Intelligence showed that 52.6% of Bitcoin mining globally is powered by sustainable energy—and rising.
“Every statement by RFK is backed up by both peer review research and the firsthand experience of grid operators,” tweeted Daniel Batten, co-founder of CH4 Capital and former Greenpeace activist, in response to the letter.
RFK Jr. dropped out of the U.S. presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump’s campaign in August. Both men spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference Nashville in July, and each independently promised to establish a national strategic Bitcoin reserve if elected.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
