Mississippi and Missouri lawmakers introduce bitcoin mining protection laws

Check this out: the US is stepping up to safeguard businesses and investors, and it’s not just happening in Mississippi and Missouri. In Pennsylvania, outgoing Senator Pat Tommy has put forward a bill aimed at cryptocurrency regulations, which aims to create more workable solutions going forward. It shows we’re really getting to grips with this tech and trying to fit it into our financial and economic frameworks. Not sure if other states have similar laws in place, but I'm curious to see how these new regulations might affect Bitcoin mining investments and the flow of cash.

Lets call it what it really is, we want to put in the structure to allow people to do stuff so we can tax it. They put in all the nice wording but in the end of the day neither state has a lot of mining going on, and unless some things change probably never will. Nothing against them, but they don't have the existing infrastructure for large miners to come in at the moment and there does not appear to be any large projects on the horizon. -Dave

In my opinion, the law on protection for investors, especially crypto or Bitcoin miners, which was planned or proposed by the Mississippi & Missouri parliament, has already been implemented by other countries such as Kazakhstan. Example: Cryptocurrency mining in Kazakhstan: Protections for Foreign Investors However, as far as I know, apart from Kazakhstan, another country that has implemented bill licenses for Bitcoin miners is Paraguay, it seems that the proposal for a protection law for miners proposed by the Mississippi & Missouri parliament is late.

Does anyone know how is the competition between Washington and the states in the USA? I mean, could a federal law prohibiting mining, for example, be passed and this law would rule over what the states want to legislate? I don't think they are going to do it but just to know how is the issue of competences. How shocking, lol. Surprised?

Bitcoin Mississippi bill that just passed:  http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2023/pdf/history/SB/SB2603.xml An accompanying bill is under consideration in the state House of Representatives. I do not know why the drafting of the law in terms of mining digital assets and not bitcoin mining or cryptocurrencies mining.

The Arkansas State House has passed a bill (https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Detail?id=HB1799&chamber=Senate&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023R) aimed at regulating the Bitcoin mining industry in the state. Source https://bitcoinmagazine.com/legal/arkansas-house-and-senate-pass-bill-protecting-right-to-mine-bitcoin This is roughly the fourth state that may allow bitcoin mining, so we'll probably see more bills soon.

Montana Senate Passes Bill Protecting Crypto Miners The Montana State Senate passed a bill on Thursday protecting crypto miners from a range of possible actions against the industry. http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/LAW0210W$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_NO1=0178&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=SB&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SESS=20231 https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/02/23/montana-senate-passes-bill-protecting-crypto-miners/ almost. We now have four states that have approved bitcoin mining, and one state has banned it.

Thanks for sharing. So, if I'm reading them right, those bills essentially only prevent discrimination of digital mining and want it to be treated at par with other, similar types of businesses, but they don't propose any preferential treatment for miners, just give them a bit of regulatory stability.

CMMIW, what they mean by discriminatory is related to electricity rate only right? Or are there other forms of crackdowns that have no legal basis on miners in the US? So basically miners can now enjoy the same power source as others as long as they pay them and make sure to cause 'no stress on public utility generation'. I wonder how it will affect the surrounding household though, hopefully not too catastrophic. It would bring negative PR if miners cause some power station to fail for one weird reason or another.

I don't expect mining to have much impact on the electric power in the surrounding areas because Missoula County is not among the major big bitcoin mining areas as far as I know, plus it has several sources of electrical energy such as solar and water through waterfalls and rivers and wind energy in addition to energy Also nuclear. For these reasons they are probably not worried:

Overall I think its good news and ignores the likes of Greenpeace's concerns over Bitcoin mining and its supposedly non Green credentials. In Europe here I recon Bitcoin mining is treated and taxed like most other business or manufacturing company or at the very least I havent heard of any European country banning Bitcoin mining. Possibly in some countries there arent any regulations in place at all. At least these 4 brave states are making it possible to mine now or in the future.

That's good news to hear. I do believe renewable energy is the way to go for the future, including mining. If miners can even use those energy sources it would be even better, CMIIW. Unfortunately, the equipment and cost to maintain renewable energy source is still not as cheap as using coal or a similar source as of now, at least in my area.

The problem is, and continues to be that at least for now the states who are making these laws have average power rates AND not of other high tech businesses that may attract mining. Even now the Pacific NW with it's cheap hydro, if the local power company hit miners with a 30% surcharge would still be cheaper then most of the industrial power rates in Missouri. Add to that, as Texas has proved, you can make it hostile to miners in a second if you want to: https://beincrypto.com/texas-lawmakers-pass-bill-limiting-bitcoin-mining/ So if you move your mining operation to a state for reason A that's great, just make sure to check B though Z to be sure you are not going to get screwed someplace else. -Dave