Texas Blockchain Council and Riot Platforms secure temporary restraining order against U.S. energy authorities in cryptocurrency data collection dispute.

The Texas Blockchain Alliance (TBA) and Riot Blockchain, a Bitcoin mining company, have secured a positive outcome from a U.S. District judge in their legal battle against multiple U.S. energy authorities.

According to recent reports, TBA and Riot had accused the U.S. Department of Energy, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and their respective leaders of attempting intrusive data gathering from cryptocurrency miners.

In a filing dated February 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, TBA and Riot successfully persuaded the judge that significant harm would occur without a temporary restraining order (TRO) against further data collection.

Consequently, the court has imposed a TRO preventing the EIA from mandating crypto miners to participate in the survey and from sharing any collected data.

“The Court acknowledges that Plaintiffs have provided a verified complaint and supporting evidence indicating that immediate and irreversible harm, loss, or damage will result without the issuance of a TRO.”

The granted temporary restraining order can be viewed here: pic.twitter.com/LzYVycdEWK

TBA and Riot argued that potential damages include unrecoverable compliance costs, a genuine threat of prosecution for non-compliance, and the exposure of requested proprietary information.

Furthermore, there was a disagreement regarding the survey duration for miners to complete, without any compensation.

While the EIA estimated a completion time of around 30 minutes, the court deemed this estimate “highly inaccurate.”

Meanwhile, TBA and Riot contested the estimate, claiming that compliance costs have already exceeded 40 hours.

Based on the presented evidence, the court found it likely that TBA and Riot would prevail in the lawsuit. It also asserted that the EIA had misused its authority to push through the emergency survey, a move the court considered unjustified.

“[The] Plaintiffs have also shown they are likely to succeed on the merits. The survey was proposed and approved under an emergency provision of the PRA,” the filing highlighted.

The TRO is set to expire before March 25, serving its purpose for the four weeks to “maintain the status quo.”