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On Tuesday, March 7th, Missouri State legislators voted in favor of amending house bill 764. The changes, introduced back in January, serve to define the language surrounding cryptocurrency miners, as well as to protect their right to operate without being discriminated against.
Missouri Passes New Crypto Mining Bill
This Tuesday, Missouri lawmakers voted in favor of amending house bill 764. The new sections mostly seek to set and define the legal framework for the handling of digital assets within the state with a special focus on cryptocurrency mining. They cover a wide array of topics from energy consumption to sound pollution.
The document makes a distinction between mining businesses and home miners while offering protection to both. Mining businesses are defined as operating a number of computers in a single site and consuming more than a megawatt of electricity. The bill states that no local, or higher level political structure can force them to cease operations as long as they are taking place “in any area zoned for industrial use.”
On the other hand, “home digital asset mining” is simply defined as taking place in a residential zone. Both categories of miners are protected from “discriminatory” rates for energy—put simply, they can’t be charged more money than anyone else. Similarly, home cryptocurrency mining cannot be faced with discriminatory orders when it comes to noise pollution.
The bill also states that any jurisdiction seeking to alter zoning has to provide proper notice and go through an appeal process. Lastly, the section titled “Digital Asset Mining Protection Act” explicitly states that those engaged in “home digital asset mining” are not to be considered money transmitters.
Individual States Take The Lead On Crypto Regulation
While Federal lawmakers have so far been criticized for their lack of activity when it comes to digital assets by multiple parties including the White House, individual states have proven significantly more active. On February 23rd, Montana passed a very similar bill to the one that came out of Missouri today.
The bill in Montana, drafted with the help of a non-profit advocacy group called the Satoshi Action Fund, also seeks to protect the right to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, it also concerns itself with preventing discriminatory fees imposed on miners and seeks to prevent the introduction of increased taxes.
Legislators in Wyoming also recently passed a bill aimed at protecting anyone engaging with digital assets. The bill passed in mid-February, unlike the ones from Montana and Missouri, is aimed at maintaining the security of individual private keys. Despite the criticism, lawmakers at the federal level also haven’t been entirely idle. Earlier today, a bipartisan group introduced a piece of legislation titled “Keep Innovation in America Act” broadly aimed at preventing regulatory overreach when it comes to digital assets.
Do you think the right to mine Bitcoin should be guaranteed at the Federal level? Let us know in the comments below.