New York State Passes Bill “Restricting Cryptocurrency Mining”! V God: I oppose “ban PoW”

The New York State Senate earlier passed a bill to impose a two-year ban on cryptocurrency mining, becoming the first state in the United States to restrict cryptocurrency mining. In response, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted that he personally opposes the government’s ban on Proof of Work (PoW).

Last week, the New York State Senate passed the new bill by a vote of 36 to 27, banning cryptocurrency mining via PoW in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of fossil-fuel-consuming mining activities.

However, this bill will only prohibit the opening of new projects, suspend the issuance of new licenses, and will not affect existing mining operations. The bill is currently before Governor Kathy Hochul, who can choose to veto it or sign it into law.

As the news fermented, Bitcoin advocate Bruce Fenton, who is running for U.S. Senate, commented on Twitter that “the government has no right to interfere with what software you use” and that “code is speech.”

Ultimately I agree with this (that is, I oppose banning PoW). The government picking and choosing which specific applications are an okay use of electricity or not is a bad idea. Better to just implement carbon pricing, and use some of the revenues to compensate low-income users. https://t.co/NnBzmv5mYz

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 4, 2022

Vitalik Buterin then retweeted the post and agreed, adding, “I am against banning PoW,” “it’s a bad idea for the government to pick which specific apps can use electricity,” and “a better solution would be Implement carbon pricing directly and use some of the revenue to compensate low-income users.”

As we all know, Bitcoin and Ethereum currently use PoW to run, but this mechanism requires many computers to work hard to solve complex mathematical problems as a method of verifying transactions and generating cryptocurrency rewards. It is regarded as a way to ensure blocks The most effective mode for chain security, deterrence and verification of forged transactions and other bad behaviors. However, the Ethereum and Dogecoin networks, to which Ether belongs, are preparing to move to Proof of Stake (PoS).

At the same time, the energy consumption of PoW mining has become the focus of various authorities, such as the European Union’s previous plan to ban people from using Bitcoin, as the PoW mechanism consumes a lot of energy to make these mining equipment operate, and the world is trying to reduce carbon emissions. and other cryptocurrencies using PoW mining mechanism, but this clause was eventually rejected by 24 votes in favor and 32 votes against .