能源信息管理局（EIA）计划未来进行比特币挖矿数据收集调查

今天由能源信息管理局主办的网络研讨会阐述了他们在今年 3 月 1 日达成协议停止之前的紧急调查并销毁所有记录后，针对美国比特币挖矿业务的数据收集调查的未来工作计划在其运作过程中收集。

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently hosted a webinar to discuss their future plans for collecting data on Bitcoin mining operations in the United States. This follows an agreement on March 1 to discontinue the prior emergency survey and destroy all records gathered during its operation.

能源信息管理局（EIA）最近举办了一次网络研讨会，讨论他们收集美国比特币挖矿业务数据的未来计划。在此之前，3 月 1 日达成协议，停止之前的紧急调查并销毁其行动期间收集的所有记录。

According to the EIA, there are currently no outstanding survey attempts listed on the Federal Registrar or in progress. The webinar aimed to gather feedback from the public and ecosystem participants on the types of information that could be collected, existing data that may be valuable to the agency, and important factors to consider in formulating a future survey.

根据 EIA 的说法，目前联邦登记处没有列出或正在进行任何未完成的调查尝试。该网络研讨会旨在收集公众和生态系统参与者对可以收集的信息类型、可能对该机构有价值的现有数据以及制定未来调查时需要考虑的重要因素的反馈。

Two major challenges highlighted by the EIA in gaining a clearer picture of Bitcoin mining in the U.S. include the difficulty in identifying mining operations among general energy consumers on the grid and the ability for mining operations to quickly relocate to areas with lower electricity prices, making it hard to track the current state of operations.

EIA 强调，为了更清晰地了解美国比特币挖矿情况，面临的两大挑战包括：难以识别电网上一般能源消费者的挖矿业务，以及挖矿业务能否快速转移到电价较低的地区，这使得挖矿业务无法快速迁移到电价较低的地区。很难跟踪当前的运营状态。

The agency currently plans to begin the process of initiating a survey sometime this year, potentially this quarter, and aims to incorporate any feedback from industry participants and the public in structuring the survey.

该机构目前计划在今年某个时候（可能是本季度）开始启动一项调查，旨在将行业参与者和公众的反馈纳入构建调查的过程中。

Several industry members participated in the webinar, including Thomas Mapes of the Digital Energy Council, Michael Postupak of the Blockchain Association, Margot Paez of the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Georgia Tech, Jayson Browder of Marathon Digital Holdings, and Lee Bratcher of the Texas Blockchain Council.

几位行业成员参加了网络研讨会，包括数字能源委员会的 Thomas Mapes、区块链协会的 Michael Postupak、比特币政策研究所和佐治亚理工学院的 Margot Paez、Marathon Digital Holdings 的 Jayson Browder 和德克萨斯州区块链委员会的 Lee Bratcher 。

The speakers普遍强调了比特币挖矿对其能源基础设施的积极影响，特别是它有助于促进需求响应计划，在普通消费者需求高峰期间释放电力，以及通过在其他需求来源不足时吸收多余的电力产能来增加可再生能源的生产能力。

The speakers普遍强调了比特币挖矿对其能源基础设施的积极影响，特别是它有助于促进需求响应计划，在普通消费者需求高峰期间释放电力，以及通过在其他需求来源不足时吸收多余的电力产能来增加可再生能源的生产能力。

Bratcher specifically raised the issue of Bitcoin miners being singled out for a survey targeted solely at them and suggested expanding the survey to include data centers in general, specifically distinguishing between data centers that are inflexible and must remain powered up consistently and flexible data centers that can dynamically power down in response to the needs of consumers or grid operators.

布拉彻特别提出了比特币矿工被挑选出来进行一项专门针对他们的调查的问题，并建议扩大调查范围以包括一般的数据中心，特别区分不灵活且必须保持持续通电的数据中心和灵活的数据中心，这些数据中心可以根据消费者或电网运营商的需求动态断电。

This was echoed by Browder as a source of hesitance and skepticism from mining operators in the industry on why they were being targeted by the survey.

布劳德对此表示赞同，认为业内采矿经营者对自己为何成为调查目标感到犹豫和怀疑。

Dennis Heidner, a member of the public attending the webinar, expressed his concern that the capital investment of miners may actually disincentivize them from powering down their operations during times of high demand. He suggested that this be included in structuring future surveys as a factor to be considered, given that miners still need to recoup their hardware investments and curtailing operations would result in a loss of revenue during that time period.

参加网络研讨会的公众丹尼斯·海德纳 (Dennis Heidner) 表达了他的担忧，即矿工的资本投资实际上可能会抑制他们在高需求时期关闭运营的积极性。他建议将这一点纳入未来调查的结构中，作为一个要考虑的因素，因为矿商仍需要收回硬件投资，而减少运营将导致该时期的收入损失。

Finally, Paez proposed the idea of Georgia Tech partnering with the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory, where researcher Arman Shehabi is currently conducting research on AI and data center energy consumption. Her rationale was that research is already underway to collect the type of data the EIA is seeking in their surveys, and given the relationships she has developed within the mining industry, and the relevance of datacenter power consumption to the EIA’s general concern about Bitcoin mining, this partnership could combine already existing research to address the EIA’s needs.

最后，Paez 提出了佐治亚理工学院与劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室合作的想法，该实验室的研究员 Arman Shehabi 目前正在进行人工智能和数据中心能耗的研究。她的理由是，研究已经在进行中，以收集 EIA 在调查中寻求的数据类型，并考虑到她在采矿业中建立的关系，以及数据中心功耗与 EIA 对比特币采矿的普遍关注的相关性，这种伙伴关系可以结合现有的研究来满足环境影响评估的需求。

This would also allow an impartial non-governmental group to handle the actual data collection itself, working to anonymize the data itself while still providing the EIA with an accurate view needed to inform policy decisions without compromising the privacy of mining operations within the space.

这也将使公正的非政府组织能够自行处理实际的数据收集，努力对数据本身进行匿名处理，同时仍然为 EIA 提供为政策决策提供信息所需的准确视图，而不会损害该空间内采矿作业的隐私。

Overall, the webinar indicates a deep rethinking of the approach the EIA is taking in terms of data collection regarding Bitcoin mining operations in the United States. They now seem to be open to a collaborative path forward with industry players in the wake of the emergency survey being shot down in court, rather than the adversarial and rushed path the emergency survey attempted to take.

总体而言，此次网络研讨会表明，EIA 对美国比特币挖矿业务数据收集方法进行了深入反思。在紧急调查在法庭上被驳回后，他们现在似乎愿意与行业参与者合作，而不是紧急调查试图采取的对抗性和仓促的道路。