The New York state passed a bill to ban new crypto miners that don’t use renewable energy sources. Anna Kelles, a democrat and an environmental activist, sponsored Assembly Bill A7389C.

“[The 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.”
Acceptance of the bill would mean that proof-of-work cryptomining will be temporarily suspended for at minimum two years.

However, the imposed law won’t ban or crypto mining – trading and using cryptocurrency won’t be restricted in the state. Kells explained that the bill prohibits crypto mining by power plants using fossil fuels.

We are thrilled to announce that the Assembly passed my bill along with Senator champion @kevinparkernyc S6386D/A7389C as part of #EarthDayPackage! We are grateful to all the co-sponsors, advocates and others who made this bill come to the floor to be voted on! pic.twitter.com/NhVnMo3FJE

— Anna Kelles (@annakelles) April 27, 2022

Flipside

• The governor must sign the bill and the state Senate still needs to accept the correspondent bill.
• Critics say that the bill isn’t the smartest move. The bill will allow crypto miners to move to another state and leave New York with a promising, rapidly expanding cryptocurrency market.