ALBANY, June 3, 2022 — The New York State Legislature early today passed a two-year moratorium on certain cryptocurrency mining that would halt permits to convert old fossil-fuel power plants into crypto operations.

(A7389/S6486) had been considered “dead” as recently as noon yesterday due to intense industry lobbying, but the Senate unexpectedly put it to a vote in the wee hours of the morning and it passed.

The measure doesn’t directly affect Greenidge Generation’s controversial Bitcoin mining plant on Seneca Lake. But it was written to prevent others from copying the Dresden plant’s use of “behind-the-meter” energy — generated on-site by burning natural gas — to power thousands of energy-hungry computer servers that earn Bitcoin tokens.  READ MORE