Policy Scoop with Aislinn Keely: Crypto meets real world concerns in mining policy discussion

Episode 45 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Aislinn Keely and Core Scientific SVP of Growth Taras Kulyk & NYS Assemblyman Clyde Vanel.

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Much of the policy conversation surrounding crypto is concerned with Wall Street-minded issues that mostly take place in the digital world – investor protection, cybersecurity, licensure to provide online financial services. But the policy conversation surrounding proof-of-work mining is asking crypto to contend with real-world issues. Mining firms are answering to environmental narratives, concerns of noise pollution and questions as to how a data center can better a community.

This episode of Policy Scoop takes a deep dive into the policy dialogues around mining, from the federal level down to local communities. Host Aislinn Keely sits down with Taras Kulyk, Senior VP of Growth at mining firm Core Scientific, to talk about regulators' and lawmakers' views on proof-of-work mining and how the industry is meeting those concerns. 

"It all boils down to the executive order from the Biden administration that's dealing with a wide swath of things. But the environmental impact kind of became the key rallying mark for digital asset miners in the United States," said Kulyk. "The good thing is, is it seems like there's a lot of misinformation that can be very easily quelled and dealt with within Washington, specifically that for some reason, legislators think that digital miners produce CO2."

New York Assembly Member Clyde Vanel also joins the show to talk about the proposed mining moratorium in the state, and why he thinks it's not the answer to environmental concerns. Vanel shares how he's seen mining firms positively shape some of New York's communities, and why he's hopeful for its role in the state.

In this episode of Policy Scoop, Keely also chats with Kulyk and Vanel on:

• House Democrats' letter to the EPA and the industry response
• How SEC environmental disclosures could impact mining firms
• New York's proposed mining moratorium
• How mining firms are contending with community concerns

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Fireblocks, Coinbase Prime & Cross River
Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

About Coinbase Prime
Coinbase Prime is an integrated solution that provides institutional investors with an advanced trading platform, secure custody, and prime services to manage all their crypto assets in one place. Coinbase Prime fully integrates crypto trading and custody on a single platform, and gives clients the best all-in pricing in their network using their proprietary Smart Order Router and algorithmic execution. For more information, visit www.coinbase.com/prime.

About Cross River
Cross River is powering today’s most innovative crypto companies, with banking and payments solutions you can rely on, including fiat on/off ramp solutions. Whether you are a crypto exchange, NFT marketplace, or wallet, Cross River’s API-based, all-in-one platform enables banking as a service, ACH & wire transfers, push-to-card disbursements, real-time payments, and virtual accounts and subledgers. Request your fiat on/off ramp solution now at crossriver.com/crypto.