The New York State Senate passed a bill early Friday that seeks to ban new cryptocurrency mining projects in a bid to tackle some of the environmental issues associated with the use of proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions, such as bitcoin.
The bill, which still needs Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature to become law, passed the New York State Senate by a vote of 36–27.
The measure would impose a 2-year moratorium on new proof-of-work mining projects in New York that are powered by fossil fuels.
The 2-year freeze is to allow authorities to carry out an environmental impact assessment of crypto mining operations that use non-renewable sources of energy like gas or coal, including around electricity consumption and potential water quality effects….