New York State Assembly Passes Ban on Non-Green BTC Mining - News Brief
Late Tuesday (April 26, 2022), by a vote of 95 to 52, the New York State Assembly passed the Crypto-Mining Moratorium Bill (A7389C) sponsored by Assemblyman Anna Kelles.
Specifically this bill "would not only impose a two-year hold on approval of any new Bitcoin mines, but the proposed moratorium would also prevent the renewal of permits issued to existing PoW cryptocurrency miners using carbon sourced energy if they seek to increase the amount of electricity consumed" [Coghlan, J. New York State Assembly passes ban on new BTC mines that don’t use green power. (Accessed April 27, 2022). Additionally, the bill tasks the New York Department of Environmental Conservation "with preparing a 'generic environmental impact statement' to number, locate and assess the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of PoW miners and their impact on public health" [Id].
The bill will next be carried by Senator Kevin Parker (co-sponsor) to the Senate floor for vote, where if passage is obtained, the bill will advance to the desk of Governor Hochul who can either sign it into law or veto it.
Assembly debate on this bill lasted for over three hours. This demonstrated what the cryptocurrency industry advocacy group the 'Blockchain Association' called a larger opposition to the mining ban than originally thought. Accordingly, the group will now turn it's attention to the NY Senate in an attempt to defeat this bill.
Bans surrounding PoW cryptocurrencies that find their basis in environmental concerns are more readily surfacing. "A similar proposal called the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill was narrowly defeated in the European Parliament in late March, with legislators there even considering a ban on Bitcoin trading to enforce the proposed ban on mining" [Id].
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