EIA to temporarily suspend bitcoin miner survey after lawsuit -court document

FILE PHOTO: A representations of cryptocurrencies in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to temporarily suspend its mandatory survey of cryptocurrency miner energy use following a lawsuit by prominent miner Riot Blockchain and an industry group, according to a notice filed on Friday with the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas Waco Division.

The DOE's statistical arm, the Energy Information Administration, will halt its survey and sequester the data received after it began collecting details from bitcoin miners early this month, the notice said.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney)