The initial bill proposed by the Democrat senator initially called on pause on crypto mining for three years for environmental purposes. If passed, the bill would force all NY miners to stop mining Bitcoin for 3 years. The main aim of the bill was to slow the impact of fossil-fuel-backed crypto mining on the environment. The bill was initially proposed on May 5.
Recently, the NY senators have amended the proposal to ban all crypto mining. According to the amendments in the proposal, the senators are now seeking to only stop mining firms that are backed by carbon-based fuel sources.
In addition to the pause, the draft law also envisages documentation regarding the energy output, as well as carbon footprint and the type of fuel used during mining.
The bill passed the Senate on June 8 and now the state assembly will be discussing it. If the bill is also passed by the assembly, it will then be Governor Cuomo who will be deciding whether to veto or approve the proposed law. The governor has recently talked about the proposed law saying that he was not well informed about it yet.
However, he also added that he is well aware of the environmental concerns regarding crypto mining and the fuel used during mining. According to the Protection Act, the goal is for the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050. As for all sectors of the economy, the emissions should be zero by that time.
Bitcoin Mining & its Impact
Bitcoin mining is a critical component of the maintenance and development of the blockchain ledger. Bitcoin mining requires very high-level computers to solve extremely complex computational math problems.
Many say that Bitcoin mining is very costly and its impact on the environment is huge. The way it works is, miners receive Bitcoin as a reward for completing blocks of verified transactions, which are added to the blockchain. This requires tremendous amounts of electricity.
The impact of Bitcoin mining on the environment has increased dramatically in recent years. According to Reuters, Bitcoin mining accounts for a total of 23 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Increasing Bitcoin Popularity
The popularity of Bitcoin as well as other digital coins has increased a lot in recent years. There are millions of people who are interested in the market and are joining it every day, which is also increasing the number of miners, which further increases the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining.
After the price boom of 2021, the popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptos have increased drastically. At the beginning of 2021, the prices of numerous cryptocurrencies in the market increased a lot.
For example, Bitcoin was selling over $64,000 in April, which has further increased its popularity around the world.
Crypto Trading is Evolving
In recent years, the crypto trading market has become more accessible for everyone. However, because there are so many things that can influence crypto prices, some traders are having a hard time effectively researching and analyzing the market.
For these people, many companies have created special trading bots that can help investors trade crypto easily. These trading bots help by analyzing the market data, including historical price movements as well as news releases and other reports that can have an impact on crypto prices.
Auto trading bot analyzes the market and offers traders accurate information about the direction the market could take in a time-efficient way. Simply put, trading bots are making this market a lot easier to predict.
Will the bill be adopted?
Unlike the initial bill, which envisaged the total pause of the whole Bitcoin mining, the revised bill indicates that green projects should be able to continue mining. If adopted, the new deal will let companies that are using environmental-friendly technologies continue mining.
It is very hard to say if the bill will be adopted or not. Considering the fact that it has already passed the Senate, there are many experts that claim that it will be adopted. Still, it is very hard to say how things will play out.
The bill still needs to be passed by the state assembly, but even this is not enough. If the bill passes the state assembly, it will then be sent to Mayor Cuomo, who has the power to either pass the amendments or veto them.
The Mayor has recently talked about the matter, saying that the carbon emission resulting from Bitcoin mining is a huge problem and should be challenged. He did not specify his view regarding the proposal.
