Tag: Bills

A cryptocurrency mining rights bill prohibit the discrimination of crypto

by Blockchain News

Following its victory in the state Senate, a piece of legislation pertaining to cryptocurrency mining rights and regulations that would prohibit discrimination against crypto miners is one step closer to becoming a reality.

The proposed laws would protect mining that takes place “at home” and strip local governments of the power to use zoning laws to stop crypto mining operations. They would also enshrine a “right to mine digital assets” and prohibit “discriminatory” electricity rates from being charged to cryptocurrency miners.

In addition to this, it forbids the imposition of additional taxes on the use of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment and proposes classifying “digital assets,” which include cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens, as “personal property,” in the same category as other financial products like stocks and bonds.

On February 23, the measure received a vote of 37 in favor and 13 against in the state Senate. It will now be considered for passage in the House of Representatives. In the event that it is also approved there, the last stage would be for it to be signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte, who has the option to either sign the measure into law or veto the bill.

Mining “provides good economic value” and has the ability to “stabilize the grid and provide income for infrastructure enhancements,” as stated in the law, which outlines that Montana wants to “protect the right to mine” cryptocurrency and “provide legal clarity” for miners.

The text of the law was drafted with the assistance of the Satoshi Action Fund, which is an organization that advocates for Bitcoin (BTC).

In April of 2019, the county of Missoula in the state of Montana established regulations that forced miners to operate only in light and heavy industrial areas and compelled miners to solely utilize renewable energy. These regulations were enacted. The zoning regulation of the county would be overturned if the bill were to be enacted.

A similar law that seeks to protect crypto miners from discrimination was approved by the Mississippi state Senate at the beginning of February and is now making its way to the Mississippi House of Representatives.

In the meanwhile, the Digital Asset Mining Protection Act of Missouri was submitted to the state legislature in the middle of January with the intention of safeguarding the legal rights of cryptocurrency miners.

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U.S. Congressman wants to scrub bill provision that crypto advocates say is a potential disaster

by Cointelegraph

North Carolina Representative Ted Budd submitted an amendment to the omnibus America COMPETES Act of 2022, specifically targeting the provision that would allow the Treasury Department to impose “special measures,” including surveillance and outright prohibitions, against “certain transmittals of funds.”

As Cointelegraph reported, executives of crypto advocacy group Coin Center had earlier turned the spotlight on the provision, introduced by Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, that would scrap the existing checks – such as the requirement of public consultation and time limits on special measures orders – constraining the Treasury’s power to unilaterally prohibit financial transactions. If passed in its current form, the provision would deal a major blow not only to the cryptocurrency industry, but “privacy and due process generally,” as Coin Center’s executive director Jerry Brito stated.

Republican Congressman Ted Budd echoed this argument in a statement that read:

The Treasury Department should not have unilateral authority to make sweeping economic decisions without providing full due process of rulemaking. This draconian provision would not help America compete with China, it would employ China’s heavy-handed playbook to snuff out financial innovation in our own country.

In a tweet that followed, Budd called the provision in question a “massive mistake.”

Tucking new rules that could adversely affect the crypto industry into huge, “must-pass” pieces of legislation is a practice that first came into spotlight last year with the appending, without public discussion, of a highly contentious definition of a “digital asset broker” to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act later signed into law.

The primary focus of the 2,912-page America COMPETES Act of 2022 is on remedying supply chain issues to keep the United States’ manufacturing and technology sectors internationally competitive. However, the sprawling bill also includes a host of seemingly unrelated measures and spending authorizations, including a ban on shark fin sales, steps against harassment in science, and new liabilities for online marketplaces.