Crypto has become the talk of the town in the 21st century. And with this came widespread mining of crypto by individuals and companies. Everything seemed to be going well until now. However, in breaking news, New York has officially banned the mining of crypto, do you want to know why? Read on.
The big reason behind a ban on something like this is the environment. Yes, as strange as it may sound to some, mining of crypto has a high negative impact on the environment. This happens due to heavy electricity usage by all the digital infrastructure required for mining. The energy used comes from fossil fuel or coal which harms the environment severely. And with more and more companies engaging in this energy-draining process each day, New York authorities just had to take a call.
Richard Schrader, a New York Legislative and Policy Director made a statement about this issue saying:
“Not only does crypto take a toll on the environment, but communities in upstate New York could suffer as once-abandoned coal power plants come back from the dead as ‘zombie plants’ that mine crypto all day, every day.”
Many countries and people have raised environmental concerns regarding the mining of crypto. Though we are seeing concrete moves against it for the very first time. It was actually China that began with the banning of mining for crypto. When this happened in 2021, a lot of companies migrated to places like New York due to the high availability of cheap electricity. And now, New York is the first in the western world to introduce a ban on crypto mining. Though the state has only banned companies from mining for crypto. Individuals can still legally mine for cryptocurrencies.
The state has ordered further research and reports as well into this direction. A recent White House report stated that all the crypto mining that takes place across the U.S. produces about 25 to 50 million metric tons of carbon pollution. This has raised serious concerns about the environment and authorities to want to tackle this quickly and effectively.
Even crypto companies are becoming aware of this. Ethereum, one of the biggest blockchain companies decided to shift to a more energy-efficient model for facilitating crypto transactions. Will others also follow? Only time can tell!