Plattsburgh — a city of 19,780 wayyyyy upstate in New York — has become the first US city to temporarily ban cryptocurrency mining.
Enacted last Thursday, the ban will place an 18-month moratorium on all new crypto mining operations in an effort to cut down on the astronomical energy usage the practice requires.
With close proximity to a hydroelectric dam, Plattsburgh boasts some of the cheapest energy in the United States: about 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to the 10-cent national average.
Last year, Plattsburgh sweetened the deal even more by offering a reduced rate of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour to “industrial operators” — and the bitcoin miners flooded into town.
The problem: These operations used far beyond the city’s energy allotment (104 megawatt-hours of electricity per month), resulting in extra costs to all residents’ energy bills.
The crypto mining process enlists servers that are constantly running equations. Large-scale operations consume incredible amounts of energy: It’s estimated that the amount of wattage required to generate one coin could power the average American household for 2 years.
Plattsburgh’s ban won’t apply to current operations but will prevent new ones from joining the party, giving the city time to figure out its next move.