The British Columbia government has placed an 18-month suspension on electricity connection requests for cryptocurrency mining operations in a bid to preserve the province’s energy supply.
The provincial government says the one-and-a-half-year halt will also give it time, along with BC Hydro, to engage with the “industry and First Nations, and develop a permanent framework for any future cryptocurrency mining operations.”
Josie Osborne, the province’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, said crypto mining across the province was using up large amounts of electricity while creating “very few jobs” in the local economy.
“We are suspending electricity connection requests from cryptocurrency mining operators to preserve our electricity supply for people who are switching to electric vehicles and heat pumps,” Osborne said in a news release on Dec. 22….