New York City is taking a hard line against crypto mining with fossil fuels. The city’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced on Wednesday that it will begin enforcing new regulations designed to reduce the amount of coal and oil used to mine cryptocurrencies. The new rules, which are set to take effect in 2020, will require companies that mine cryptocurrencies to use natural gas instead of coal or oil. The DEC also plans to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in cryptocurrency mining, in order to prevent machines from cheating on calculations. Cryptocurrencies are digital tokens that use cryptography to secure their transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, was created in 2009.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law on Tuesday that aims to limit the use of environmentally-damaging fossil fuels for cryptocurrency mining. It sets a two-year moratorium on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining. The law also instructs New York’s Department of Environment Conservation to evaluate how cryptocurrency mining affects the state’s climate goals.
Governor Hochul said in a statement, “I will ensure that New York continues to be the center of financial innovation, while also taking important steps to prioritize the protection of our environment.”
Environmental impact is a common criticism of cryptocurrency, as many blockchains are built on proof-of-work, which uses significant amounts of energy to verify each transaction compared to regular banks and digital payments. Newer blockchains use a more efficient proof-of-stake model, but not Bitcoin and some other chains. The Ethereum blockchain migrated to proof-of-stake earlier this year.
The extensive use of fossil fuels is one of the most significant problems with cryptocurrency. Many other industries rely heavily on fossil fuels, but at least you usually get something useful in the end, like a car or computer. Pumping toxic fumes into the air for Bitcoin mining just gets you money that isn’t very good at being money.
Source: Associated Press
