The New Hampshire Senate remains divided over a proposed bill to deregulate cryptocurrency mining. Following two tie votes, one to advance and another to kill the bill, the Senate Commerce Committee voted 4–2 to refer it for interim review.

Lawmakers claimed before Tuesday’s proceedings that the bill had received an unprecedented amount of public interest and input since it was last discussed during the spring.

The bill, specifically, would prohibit local governments from enacting certain laws that would inhibit cryptocurrency mining businesses, such as noise-prohibition zoning.

It will also prevent digital money transactions from being taxed differently by state and local authorities, and it concurs that people have the right to mine digital money. Furthermore, a superior court would establish a blockchain conflict docket and assign a justice to hear crypto-linked conflicts under the legislation.

Senators claimed they had seen unusually high volumes of public engagement on the bill

In May, senators opted to send the bill back to committee after its first vote to clarify certain provisions and secure additional support. Senators are expected to revisit the legislation in the new year. 

According to the bill’s lead sponsor, New Boston Republican Rep. Keith Ammon, the legislation will protect blockchain and cryptocurrency companies from bias. The legislation aligns with a model policy written by the Satoshi Action Group, which advocates for the use of Bitcoin and has successfully advanced similar laws in several U.S. states.

During the Commerce Committee’s Oct. 30 meeting, Sen. Denise Ricciardi, a Republican from District 9, pointed to Arkansas as an example, seeing that it strengthened its mining regulations after facing community noise complaints and fears over environmental harm and foreign control.

Senators said Thursday that their constituents have voiced strong opinions about the bill since it was last debated in the chamber. Ricciardi commented, “I don’t want to vote against it, but we heard from so many constituents, and I would like to have it worked on further and then move it forward next session.” 

The Concord Democrat Senator Reardon also shared that she’d never seen so much public engagement on a single bill, noting that the messages she received focused on the loss of local authority and community-level concerns.

Senator Keith Murphy, one of the bill’s backers, said the legislation would make clear that New Hampshire is ready to embrace the digital asset sector. 

Coal use in Bitcoin mining has reduced

There are still concerns about the environmental cost of crypto mining. However, the industry’s energy profile is improving. The MiCA Crypto Alliance and Nodiens report shows that coal use in Bitcoin mining has decreased from 63% in 2011 to 20% in 2024, alongside a 5.8% yearly increase in renewable energy reliance. 

Some U.S. states are also using taxation to mitigate the energy demands of digital asset mining. On October 2, Sen. Liz Krueger of New York proposed legislation introducing a tiered tax on electricity consumption, exempting miners who use less than 2.25 million kWh annually and charging 2 cents per kWh for those using up to 5 million kWh per year.

At the same time, Russian government officials have launched a special registry of cryptocurrency mining equipment to help identify and tackle the increasingly popular illegal mining operations on a domestic level.

According to Deputy Energy Minister Petr Konyushenko, the registry, compiled jointly by the Ministry of Energy, the Federal Tax Service (FNS), and the Ministry of Digital Development, contains detailed information on devices used for crypto mining, RIA Novosti reported.

Konyushenko mentioned that the information is quite detailed, and they have shared it with Law enforcement and authorities in some territories. Authorities in those regions are currently working hard to coordinate their actions. “The creation of such a register will allow us to identify consumers using electricity for mining needs accurately. This is necessary to apply special regulation and taxation to those.”

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