- The recently passed New York crypto mining bill will not have the impact its signatories believe, crypto insiders have warned
- The bill passed the State Senate on Friday, meaning that crypto mining services in the state will be limited
- Insiders have said that the bill will not reduce Bitcoin mining output and harms innovation
The moratorium on cryptocurrency mining will likely backfire and won’t reduce climate change, according to opponents of the recently-passed bill. The bill, which passed the New York State Senate on Friday, disallows any new cryptocurrency mining operations using carbon-based energy sources from setting up in the state and bans any existing ones from expanding their activities. In the meantime, the sector will be investigated so that its impact on climate change can be assessed, but opponents have warned that the passing of the bill will have no impact on the goals set out by the proposers and will simply shift activities to other states.
Crypto Mining Bill Is Not a Ban
The crypto mining bill was first proposed by New York State Senator Kevin S. Parker in May 2021 and recently cleared the first two hurdles to get it signed into law, leading to a vote in the New York State Senate on Friday.
Rather than being a crypto mining ban as joyous mainstream media outlets have reported, the bill would temporarily halt new crypto mining companies using non-renewable energy sources from setting up shop and limit the output of existing ones while the sector is essentially investigated to see if it complies with the state’s aims on climate change.
The vote passed on Friday by 36-27, but its passing has resulted in a warning from those on the inside that it will not have the impact that its signatories believe:
1/ As the anti-bitcoin wing of the NY political establishment takes a victory lap over the passage of its mining ban, remember:
It will not help reduce carbon emissions by a single ounce.
All it does is push miners to build in other places where NY has no influence over them.
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) June 5, 2022
Other prominent Bitcoiners took their arguments further, claiming that the bill infringes on the rights of American citizens:
Bitcoin mining protects a person’s private property.
New York is explicitly attacking American citizens’ right to protect their private property with their proposed bitcoin mining ban.
This will likely be deemed a violation of the Fifth Amendment and unconstitutional.
— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) June 3, 2022
These legal challenges will likely be necessary given that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is responsible for signing the bill before it can become law, and given that the Democrats are the party pushing the anti-crypto message this will almost certainly not be a problem.
