For the first time, a US city has banned cryptocurrency mining after large-scale operations used up all its power
From Business Insider
The city of Plattsburgh, New York announced on Thursday that it is temporarily banning the commercial mining of cryptocurrency for 18 months. The official reasoning for the moratorium is to "protect and enhance the City's natural, historic, cultural and electrical resources." Plattsburgh residents have seen skyrocketing electrical bills — as much as $100 to $200 increases — as a result of commercial cryptomining operations that mine for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, according to Plattsburgh Mayor Colin Read, who spoke with Motherboard. The city is taking action to protect its citizens from those rising electrical bills that the city of Plattsburgh says is caused by cryptomining operations.Read more: http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/plattsburgh-new-york-cryptocurrency-mining-ban-2018-3-1018865406
This article and many others I've seen pop up with this story are being a little heavy handed in calling it a ban on cryptocurrency mining. It's a moratorium on new commercial mining operations coming to town to take advantage of their cheap electricity meant to encourage job growth. I can see their reason. They offered cheap electricity hoping to create jobs in their city but these mining operations came instead of industrial manufacturing. Mining operations don't employee many people for the electricity they use.
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Agree
> It's a moratorium on new commercial mining operations coming to town to take advantage of their cheap electricity meant to encourage job growth.
> They offered cheap electricity hoping to create jobs in their city but these mining operations came instead of industrial manufacturing.
Hehe
Finding new ways of reducing the energy burden associated with crytpo mining may well be one of the goldmines of the future.
This makes sense and I can see the reasoning, but from another point, it's stupid for Plattsburgh to do this. I've been to Plattsburgh, driven by it numerous times, and know people from there, and there really isn't much there. It's the last large town before getting to the Canadian border in New York, and it's just a bunch of shopping malls and places to buy stuff. There's not much happening there, so you would think Plattsburgh at least would want to cater to cryptocurrency more.
But then again, most of these people who are on town boards and run towns and cities' governments are much older and have traditionally been against new technology. Crypto certainly hasn't gotten to that stage of mass adoption at all.