New York Senate Passes Moratorium on Bitcoin Mining

The bill, passed on Friday morning, is a measure to tackle the environmental impacts of mining cryptocurrency.

Heading to Governor’s Desk

The New York senate has passed a bill that will halt bitcoin mining operations running on certain carbon-based energy sources. It will temporarily halt the issuance of permits for proof-of-work (PoW) mining projects. 

The Senate voted 36-27 to approve the passing of the bill. It is now up to Governor Kathy Hochul to pass it into law or veto it.

The measure passed in the New York State Assembly in April before moving to the State Senate. It calls for a two-year moratorium on select crypto mining operations that use the PoW consensus mechanism for validating blockchain operations.

Proof-of-work is a much-maligned technique used in verifying the accuracy of transactions before they get added to a blockchain. It requires using special hardware to solve complex mathematical problems following an energy-intensive process.

Crypto networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum run on PoW. However, the latter plans to switch to the more efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism.

According to the terms of the measure, existing mining operations applying for the permit will not be affected. The state will also conduct a study on the environmental impacts of proof-of-work crypto mining.