The Nebraska Legislature unanimously passed a bill that would slightly limit Bitcoin mining. It does not impose serious restrictions, but introduces new requirements, handicaps and additional costs into the mining industry.
The bill is not a major setback, but the unanimous vote is still worth noting. The Marathon is the only mining company in the state with important operations, and its response to these events could prove insightful.
Nebraska limits bitcoin mining
Crypto regulations have spread throughout America as President Trump has become a hot button issue at both the state and federal levels. Republicans are generally more in favor, but are also full of internal contradictions.
A great example of these is Nebraska. In Nebraska, the 2/3 GOP Congress today unanimously voted to limit Bitcoin mining.
“The Nebraska Legislature has just passed a bill to regulate Bitcoin miners. LB526 requires large miners to cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades, requires miners to report their energy usage, and authorities allow unanimously to pass 49-0.”
Nebraska’s Bitcoin Mining Bitcoin, LB 526, is not a major setback for state businesses. It is just over two pages long and is very easy.
Unlike the anti-mining bill, it does not address carbon emissions or other environmental impacts. Instead, it It focuses almost entirely on electric grids.
Over the past few years, mining operations in Texas have been blamed for brownouts and halts. These companies use enormous amounts of electricity and can strain the grid during the summer heat wave. Texas’ solid Republican Congress has passed legislation that strictly restricts mining, and Nebraska may be taking the same approach.
Specifically, Nebraska reserves the right to suspend mining operations at its sole discretion and may address the issue of heat waves.
Mining companies also require that businesses pay for infrastructure upgrades if they are burdened with existing grids. Finally, the number of mining operations and the amount of electricity they consume are publicly reported.
Now that the state legislature has unanimously passed the bill, it is only necessary for the governor’s signature to become law. Nebraska Gov. Jim Piren called Crypto “an important emerging industry,” but he didn’t comment specifically. At this point, it appears he’s likely to sign the final signing.
So far, Marathon is the only Bitcoin mining company with a significant Nebraska business. Earlier this year, we upgraded our hardware at the Kearney site, a county of 6,600. Bitcoin mining in the US is declining in profitability, and marathons are underwriting debt to buy BTC from other sources.
In other words, the marathon’s response to the bill could be insightful. Even if LB 526 becomes law, it doesn’t actually limit Nebraska’s Bitcoin mining much.
Still, this development means that local governments are very willing to impose light restrictions. That alone makes the incident remarkable.