New York Environmental Committee Will Not Consider Bitcoin Mining Ban Bill

A plan in New York that would have put a two-year prohibition on some types of proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining operations was dealt a big blow on Friday, May 6. The Senate Environmental Conservation Committee is now debating the bill. Despite this, the committee has decided not to take up the bill during its final meeting of the current legislative session, according to a schedule issued early Friday morning. In particular the Senate Bill S6486D: “Establishes a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions; provides that such operations shall be subject to a full generic environmental impact statement review.” Many members of the cryptocurrency industry have expressed strong opposition to the legislation, believing that the moratorium – which is much narrower than an earlier version that sought to impose an outright ban on mining for three years – could be the start of a downward spiral that eventually leads to the outright prohibition of all cryptocurrency mining in New York. Opposition to the Bitcoin mining bill Indeed, on May 4, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said that the planned regulation of Bitcoin energy use in New York City is ‘environmentally detrimental.’ He opined: “The proposed regulation of Bitcoin energy use in New York is damaging to the environment, reputation & economy of NY and demonstrates that the law can be manipulated ...