New York Legislature Clears Limited Proof-of-Work Mining Moratorium

An overnight New York State Senate vote reported on June 3, 2022 completed legislative passage of a narrowly drawn two-year moratorium aimed at fossil-fueled proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining. The measure, Assembly Bill A7389C, still required action by Governor Kathy Hochul, so it was not law on June 3.

The development mattered because New York was testing a new regulatory route for digital-asset infrastructure: controlling the air permits of power plants that supplied mining sites, rather than regulating Bitcoin transactions or the protocol itself. That distinction made the bill both more limited than a mining ban and potentially more consequential as a model for states weighing energy policy against competition for mining investment.

What the bill would pause

The final legislative text would direct the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, after consultation with the Department of Public Service, not to approve new air-permit applications for electric generating facilities that used carbon-based fuel and supplied electricity behind the meter to proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining operations. “Behind the meter” meant power delivered directly at the facility rather than ordinary electricity purchased across the wider grid.

For existing permits, the moratorium was narrower still. A renewal would be blocked only when it sought, allowed or produced an increase in electricity consumed by a covered mining operation. The two-year clock would begin on the measure’s effective date, not on the Senate vote.

That scope left several categories outside the proposed pause. It did not prohibit buying, selling or holding bitcoin. It did not disable proof-of-work networks. It did not close every existing New York mine, and it did not cover a facility merely because a miner drew power from the public grid. Mining supplied by non-carbon generation also was not the target described in the permit provisions.

A study attached to the pause

A7389C paired the permit moratorium with a statewide generic environmental impact statement. The Department of Environmental Conservation, consulting with the Department of Public Service, would examine the location and electricity consumption of proof-of-work mines, their energy sources, attributable greenhouse-gas emissions and co-pollutants, water use, public-health effects, and social and economic costs and benefits.

The draft study would receive 120 days of public comment and hearings across eight regions. The final statement was due no later than one year after the law’s effective date. On June 3, those findings did not yet exist. Claims about the industry’s statewide environmental or economic impact therefore remained matters for the mandated review, not conclusions established by the bill’s passage.

Why the vote changed the policy map

The Assembly had approved the measure on April 26, 2022. The Senate’s overnight action removed the final legislative obstacle and shifted the decision to Hochul. For miners and power-plant owners, the immediate issue was prospective permitting risk: projects built around reviving or expanding carbon-fueled generation for dedicated proof-of-work loads could face a two-year stop if the governor signed the bill.

For the broader market, the signal was institutional rather than mechanical. Bitcoin continued to operate independently of New York law, but mining capacity is geographically mobile and depends on energy, permits and capital. A large U.S. state had now shown that climate statutes could be applied to the physical infrastructure supporting a decentralized network.

What remained uncertain on June 3

The measure’s practical effect depended on gubernatorial approval, its effective date, pending permit applications and agency implementation. It was therefore accurate on June 3, 2022 to describe a legislature-approved moratorium awaiting the governor—not an operating statewide ban, a shutdown of existing mining, or a restriction on cryptocurrency ownership and trading.