New York's Bitcoin Mining Ban Shows the Limits of Crypto's Political Clout
This post was originally published on Observer.com.
The New York State legislature made history last week when the State Senate passed, by a 36-27 margin, a bill the state’s Assembly had already approved to place a two-year moratorium on “proof-of-work” cryptocurrency mining that uses fossil fuels—effectively, a two-year ban on much bitcoin mining. It is the farthest-reaching legislation of its kind anywhere in the world, and most insiders expect Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat up for election in November, will sign it into law.
In the last two years as cryptocurrency has become more mainstream, the industry has tried to increase its influence on public policy. In what was viewed as an attempt to influence Washington policymakers, Terraform Labs, the company behind the recently-imploded cryptocurrency Terra paid more than $30 million to blanket the Washington Nationals baseball stadium with advertising. Protect Our Future, a super PAC controlled by Sam Bankman-Fried—the founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX—made more than $17 million in political contributions in the first four months of this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Similarly, crypto companies have been spending money to get their message across and to block New York's moratorium bill.