Mississippi Passes Bill Protecting Crypto Miners’ Rights

The passage of a crypto framework in Mississippi, or the Digital Asset Mining Act, by the state senate on February 8 represents a step forward in the state’s efforts to protect the rights of cryptocurrency miners.

On February 9, Documenting Bitcoin tweeted that the Mississippi Senate has passed a new law titled “Right to Mine” that offers a framework for protecting Bitcoin miners in the state.

Currently, the state house of representatives is examining a related bill.

Crypto Miners’ Rights Protected

According to the legislation, miners are permitted to install their crypto mining equipment in industrial zones without discrimination.

The bill prohibits charging mining companies unfair energy fees. In addition, miners will not be deemed to be “money transmitters.”

State Sen. Josh Harkins’s measure legalizes the mining of digital assets at home and the operation of mining firms in areas classified for industrial use.

Mississippi, which has some of the lowest electricity costs in the nation, is already home to cryptocurrency miners.

Image: Watcher Guru

Nevertheless, the bill asserted that digital asset mining has frequently encountered legislative obstacles at the state and local levels.

Furthermore, the measure forbids regulating noise from home mining beyond existing limitations, putting requirements on miners beyond those locally applied to data centers, or re-zoning a mining center without reasonable disclosure and an opportunity to appeal.

Growing Interest In Crypto

The founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, Dennis Porter, noted that despite the bill’s passage, more work remains.

The most recent measure taken by Mississippi illustrates the growing interest of states across the United States in adopting Bitcoin and incorporating it into their electricity networks.

This comes at a time when the US is fast-tracking its efforts to regulate the crypto sector, with Bitcoin mining at the forefront of the narrative.

Mississippi’s measure contrasts with New York’s two-year crypto mining ban, approved in November and signed into law.

At a January conference of the Mississippi Senate Finance Committee, Porter discussed the possibility of crypto miners using abandoned oil and gas wells as a power source.

Hashing, the process of using a computer’s computational power to add blocks to the blockchain, is energy-intensive. It’s as simple as this: the more hashing that takes place, the more cryptos are mined.

BTC total market cap at $418 billion on the weekend chart | Chart: TradingView.com

Meanwhile, China’s mining restriction accelerated the clustering of Bitcoin miners in the United States. According to reports, two US mining pools, Foundry and Antpool, control more than half of the world’s hash rate.

Based on data from Find Energy, Mississippi’s electricity rates are about 16% lower than the national average, ranking it as the 16th most affordable state in the US.

If passed by the Mississippi lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves, the bill would become effective on July 1. It is one of the more favorable bills regarding crypto asset mining in the US.

-Featured image form WLBT