The cryptocurrency mining ban bill is getting more and closer to the state assembly in the US as it advances to New York
In a nutshell, if once passed, the New York bill would ban the mining of proof of work cryptocurrencies for at least two years from now, it advanced on Monday. Last June, the New York State Senate passed the bill before referring it to the environmental committee. As per the New York crypto lobbyist Blockchain Association state lead, John Olsen said that the bill is likely to advance to the New York Assembly by this week soon.
Such groups of environmentalists in favor of the bill made these claims that crypto mining operations will restrict and won’t let Ney York achieve its goal of carbon emission. Olsen further said that this bill intends to prevent upcoming mining operations that would consume power that would be generated from fossil fuels or even partially.
Blockchain Association lead further said that the impact is just an economic reality in the sense that jobs paying handsome salaries will be going to other states, and such mining operations would face the least regulatory lookover. They would be set up in other states regarding the impact on the environment.
According to Anna Kelles, a state representative who sponsored the legislation, her bill is not particularly a ban on bitcoin, as he tweeted on Monday. She said that the bill would not make anyone unable to buy, sell, invest or use crypto otherwise in the New York State region.
There are concerns regarding the environmental threats that power consumption of crypto mining facilities from fossil fuels increases. Such as, when a private equity firm Atlas Holdings, acquired Greenidge Generation in 2014, it converted the coal-based power plant into a natural gas one. By 2021, the company started using the power generated from the powerhouse for bitcoin mining. At present, it operates using 19 megawatts capacity and plans to take it to about 85 megawatts by the end of this year.
John Olsen said that there’s a certain interest in order to turn back on power plants that use fossil fuel or natural gas. The industry works such that it is always surrounded by new technologies to improve its emission in order to meet standards for capturing waste energy that would be utilized otherwise. So it would be a bit of a blow to such an industry that is looking very much to stay in New York.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/04/26/whats-in-the-new-york-bill-poised-to-advance-and-ban-crypto-mining/