The US state of New York wants to ban the mining of cryptocurrencies. A corresponding bill by Senator Rachel May and Senate member Kevin Parker is currently on the vote and could prevent mining in the east coast state for three years.
What’s behind the plans in New York?
The background is not an economic, but an ecological question: about ten years ago, like in many places in the state, the lights for the »Greenidge« coal-fired power station went out in the municipality of Dresden (not our Dresden!) – the owner declared bankruptcy, like New York Focus reports.
But now the system has been put back into operation. However, not to supply the nearly 300 residents of the community with energy, but to run a mining farm.
Low electricity costs and high prices
The company, which is highly profitable thanks to the tremendously increased exchange rates for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Co. and the low electricity costs, has switched from burning coal to gas, but is still a thorn in the side of environmentalists. W
ith several decommissioned facilities in New York State, they fear a precedent will be set. Others could follow the example of Dresden and re-heat their carbon dioxide-emitting facilities for cryptomining.
The bill, called Senate Bill S6486, now provides for a stop to the crypto mining farms. Only when it is certain that the farms are not in conflict with the state’s greenhouse emission targets should they be allowed to go back on the grid. The audit would be scheduled for a period of three years.
In addition to mining with power-hungry graphics cards, there is also the option of using storage capacity. This is significantly less harmful to the environment, but it drives up the prices for hard drives.
Legislative process is ongoing
First, however, the bill must go through all the necessary instances in order to become a solid law. At the moment the proposal is still in committee, that is the second step out of a total of six.