The New York State Assembly has passed legislation to ban crypto mining in the state until a review has been completed.
To quote the summary:
“[The legislation] 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.”
The legislation now moves to the State Senate for a review and potential vote.
The bill states that there are an increasing number of cryptocurrency mining operations in New York performing Proof-of-Work authentication of different blockchains. Studies show that the magnitude of the computer processing output required to authenticate a single block uses as much energy as an average American household uses in a month. The annual global energy use for PoW authentication is equivalent to that of the country of Sweden and exceeds the energy consumption of all the global activity of major tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook combined.
Sponsored by Anna Kelles, a Democrat, the bill will create 2-year moratorium while compelling a “comprehensive generic environmental impact statement by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. A public comment period will follow alongside a “final generic environmental impact
statement”