New York’s Bill on Bitcoin Mining — Everything you need to know

Weekly Update

Today, cryptocurrency prices rose, with Bitcoin rebounding after falling with stocks the previous session, meeting resistance near the $30,000 mark, where it has been trading for the past month. The world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency increased by more than 1.5 percent to $30,482.

Since the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin caused a broad crypto selloff in early May, Bitcoin has only momentarily departed from the $30,000 level. The digital coin is down more than 35% this year and trading well below its top of $69,000 in November 2021.

Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency and the token linked to the ethereum blockchain, climbed roughly 1% to $1,802. Meanwhile, the price of dogecoin today was 1% higher at $0.08, while Shiba Inu was nearly 0.5% higher at $0.000011. The worldwide cryptocurrency market valuation is currently $1.25 trillion, up around 0.96% in the last 24 hours.

New York’s Bill on Bitcoin Mining

Early Friday morning, the New York State Senate enacted a law aimed at proof-of-work (PoW) mining in an effort to address some of the environmental issues raised by cryptocurrencies.

The bill, which was passed by the state Assembly last month, would place a two-year moratorium on any new PoW mining ventures in the Empire State that use carbon-based fuel, though existing mining enterprises or those through permission renewal would be allowed to continue operations. The bill was approved by a vote of 36–27 in the Senate.

Mining businesses operating in New York have threatened to leave if the moratorium is enacted, citing the ease of doing business in more mining-friendly states such as Texas.

The state will perform a study on the potential environmental implications of proof-of-work mining during the ban.

However, the bill still needs to be signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul before it can become law.