The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) and Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms have secured a favourable ruling from a United States District judge in a lawsuit against several U.S. energy officials.
As per a report by Cointelegraph on 22nd February, TBC and Riot accused the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and their respective leaderships of seeking intrusive data collection from cryptocurrency miners.
In a filing dated 23rd February in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the TBC and Riot persuaded the judge that irreversible harm would occur without a temporary restraining order (TRO) against further data collection.
Consequently, the court implemented a TRO preventing the EIA from mandating crypto miners to respond to the survey and from sharing any data already received.
“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have shown through a verified complaint and supporting evidence that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result if a TRO is not issued.”
The TBC and Riot contended that potential damages include unrecoverable costs of survey compliance, a credible threat of prosecution for non-compliance, and the disclosure of requested proprietary information.
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Furthermore, there was disagreement over the survey completion timeframe for miners, with no compensation.
Despite the EIA estimating a 30-minute completion time, the court deemed this estimate “extremely inaccurate.”
Meanwhile, the TBC and Riot disputed the estimate, stating that compliance costs thus far have exceeded 40 hours.
Based on the evidence provided, the court judged that TBC and Riot were likely to prevail in the lawsuit.
It also alleged that the EIA misused its authority to have the emergency survey approved, a move the court deemed “falls far short of justifying such an action.”
“[The] Plaintiffs also demonstrate that they are likely to succeed on the merits.
The survey was proposed and approved under an emergency provision of the PRA,” the filing noted.
The TRO is set to expire before March 25, aiming to “preserve the status quo” for four weeks.
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