The New York State Senate approved a controversial proof-of-work (PoW) mining ban invoice that will prohibit any new Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations within the state.

The PoW mining ban invoice was first handed by the state meeting in April final month. It goals to ban any new mining operations within the state for the subsequent two years. Now, the invoice is headed for the governor’s workplace, which as soon as authorised, would make New York the primary state in the US to put a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining.

PoW mining consensus is predominantly utilized by Bitcoin miners and is taken into account one of many most secure and most decentralized methods of mining. Nonetheless, the follow is controversial because it requires an extremely excessive quantity of power.

The vote on the invoice noticed many senators flip from undecided to in favor, claiming they’re involved about carbon emissions.

The invoice wouldn’t solely prohibit new mining operations but additionally refuse the renewal of licenses to those that are already working within the state. Any new PoW mining operation within the state might solely function if it makes use of 100% renewable power.

Bitcoin’s mining consensus mechanism has been one of many hottest matters of debate amongst policymakers aided by environmentalist and billionaire lobbies supporting proof-of-stake mining consensus, which is much much less power intensive. Greenpeace, in addition to Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen have been campaigning for a change of the Bitcoin code.

Policymakers usually solely give attention to the excessive power consumption by Bitcoin miners, ignoring the truth that a major chunk of this power comes from renewable sources, particularly in New York the place 50% of the power is produced from renewable sources.

NY State Supreme Court docket dismisses petition in opposition to crypto mining firm

Criticism of PoW mining gained steam final 12 months on the peak of the bull run. Nonetheless, by the top of the final 12 months, a MicroStrategy-led Bitcoin mining council report highlighted that greater than 60% of the electrical energy consumption by the BTC community comes from clear sources.

The European Parliament proposed an analogous PoW mining ban, nonetheless, it amended the proposal to take away the ban amid rising public scrutiny.

Consultants imagine New York’s choice to ban PoW mining would create a domino impact and different states would possibly observe. The U.S is at present the world chief in Bitcoin mining hash price, accounting for 38% of the community’s mining energy.