- The Montana State Senate passed a new bill to protect crypto miners.
- The bill would safeguard crypto miners from the discrimination miners are facing.
- The Legislation would support at-home mining and would prohibit discriminatory electric charges.
The western state of the United States, Montana passed a bill on Thursday under the auspice of the State Senate, with the intention to protect crypto miners from a set of possible risks, including acts of discrimination.
According to the new bill, the crypto miners would be bestowed with a “right to mine digital assets”. In addition, the bill would prohibit “discriminatory” electricity rates charged on crypto miners, along with protecting home mining.
In addition, the legislation also intends at restricting the local government’s power to restrict at-home mining or to use zoning laws to close active operations of crypt mining.
Notably, the bill would probably upend the Missoula County zoning ordinance passed in 2020, which necessitated all the bitcoin miners to buy or build renewable energy assets equivalent to their consumption of energy. However, the representatives of Missoula county were reluctant to comment on the matter.
Interestingly, the bill which won a vote of 37 for and 13 against, was framed with the help of the Satoshi Action Fund, a pro-bitcoin lobbying group. Once the bill is approved by the House, the final step would be its confirmation into law with the signature of Governor Greg Gianforte.
It is noteworthy that after the bill is approved by the state’s House, the additional tax on the use of crypto as a mode of payment would be prohibited. Also, digital assets including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) would be thereby considered as “personal property” along with other financial products such as bonds and stocks.
In conclusion, the new bill pictured Montana’s determination to protect the “right to mine” crypto and “create legal certainty” for crypto miners. The legislation has prominently mentioned that mining “provided positive economic value” and would help in potentially stabilizing the grid and “provide revenue for infrastructure upgrades.”
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