Regulation
Missouri Lawmaker Hopes to Protect Cryptocurrency Mining from State, Local Regulation • Missouri Independent
Cryptocurrency mining requires enormous amounts of computing power and electricity, both to keep digital computations going and to cool the machines that do the work.
A St. Charles County legislator wants to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start their own mines in Missouri, propose laws this prevents local governments from limiting locations for mining operations or imposing stricter noise restrictions than those required for other sectors.
The bill introduced by state Rep. Phil Christofanelli, a Republican from St. Peters, would also prevent the Missouri Public Service Commission from agreeing to set energy costs for cryptocurrency mines above rates applied to other industries.
The protections are necessary, Christofanelli told the House Special Committee on Innovation and Technology on Tuesday, to foster an industry that can bring jobs and money to Missouri’s economy.
“Our state should welcome this type of new and innovative currency to the market,” Christofanelli said. “We just want asset miners to be treated like everyone else in the energy economy.”
Missouri should allow cryptomining but should not exempt it from local regulations or protect it from a PSC decision that takes into account the additional costs of connecting and powering a new heavy electricity user, Michael Berg, policy director, told the committee state of the Sierra Club.
“Being next to one of these operations is like constantly having an airplane engine idling on a nearby runway,” Berg said. “Communities should be empowered to address this problem.”
Under Christofanelli’s bill, which was not voted on Tuesday, anyone in the state could start a cryptomining operation in their home, “as long as they comply with all local noise ordinances,” and such ordinances could not set a noise limit for domestic cryptomining. restrictive “compared to other limits for noise pollution”.
Local governments would have to allow cryptocurrency mining in industrial areas, and noise rules could not be stricter than those applicable to other sectors. They would also be prohibited from changing the zoning of a cryptocurrency mine if the intent was to prevent the business from operating.
In an exchange with state Rep. Bridget Walsh Moore, a St. Louis Democrat, Christofanelli said local governments could include cryptocurrency mining provisions in a zoning ordinance, but couldn’t exclude businesses.
“It still feels like we are tying the hands of local government,” Walsh Moore said.
“Well, that’s what we do here in the legislature,” Christofanelli responded.
Bitcoin, the most recognizable cryptocurrency, as well as others, are generated by what are called blockchains, invented to create secure, encrypted online documents and transactions. Completing a block is rewarded with mined currency.
A single computer would take several years to complete a block running the Bitcoin algorithm, but a large bank of computers can do it much more quickly. Completing a block currently nets you 6.25 Bitcoins – nearly $270,000 based on Tuesday afternoon’s market price.
If passed, Missouri would be one of the few states with laws that protect cryptomining and prevent local regulation. Arkansas was first, followed by Montana.
The New York Times, in a article published on Saturdaydescribed how residents of a house about 100 meters from a cryptomining facility were forced inside by the din of loud cooling fans required by computers running around the clock.
The Times also reported that the Arkansas legislation was “written in part by the Satoshi Action Fund, a Mississippi-based nonprofit advocacy group whose co-founder worked in the Trump administration rolling back US climate policies ‘It was Obama.’
Dennis Porter, CEO of the Satoshi Action Fund, was the first witness in favor of Christofanelli’s bill. He said the bill would promote jobs and investment in local areas and support privacy in market transactions.
The legislation, he said, “does not ask for special privileges. It only requires that the state allow Bitcoin and digital asset companies to grow without fear of discrimination.”
In addition to noise, large digital currency mining operations require a stored energy supply, such as new transmission lines and substations, Berg told the committee. Regulators should not be required to spread those costs to other users in electricity rates, he said.
“It’s not about freedom,” Berg said. “These are big, wealthy crypto players who want to make it harder for the PSC to hold them accountable and protect the public.”
Asked after the hearing how local governments could regulate cryptomining operations for noise and other nuisances, Christofanelli said they could use right-of-way ordinances to protect residences.
Most Missouri counties, however, do not have zoning laws. Their powers to pass ordinances are much more limited than those of municipalities, but Christofanelli said he believes there is enough authority to write a general noise ordinance.
“They can adjust the noise level,” he said. “I never felt like they couldn’t do it.”
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