Eyes on New York Governor Kathy Hochul After State Lawmakers Pass Moratorium on Proof-of-Work Crypto Mining

A bill that would create a moratorium on proof-of-work crypto mining has been approved by the New York State Senate and is now on its way to Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk to be potentially signed into law.

The legislation would enact a two-year pause on mining tokens that utilize proof-of-work systems, including the top crypto asset by market cap Bitcoin (BTC) and leading smart contract platform Ethereum (ETH).

Hochul has 10 days to either sign or veto the bill. According to the bill’s text, its purpose is to put a halt on all carbon-powered crypto mining in the state until the completion of a comprehensive report on the mechanism’s environmental impact.

“[This bill] 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.”

If signed, New York would become the first state in the nation to curb the mining of proof-of-work digital assets.

According to the University of Cambridge’s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, the state of New York accounts for 9.8% of the nation’s overall BTC hashrate, ranking behind Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, respectively.

Though top altcoin Ethereum currently uses a proof-of-work mining system, it’s slated to switch to a proof-of-work sometime in August, drastically reducing the amount of energy needed to operate the blockchain.

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Featured Image: Shutterstock/DM7/Natalia Siiatovskaia