Greg signs bill on pro-cryptocurrency mining

The governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, has signed into law a bill that prevents local governments in the state from prohibiting cryptocurrency mining.

According to legislative records, Gianforte signed S.B. 178 into law on May 2, after both the state House and Senate had passed the bill.

The legislation effectively enshrines the rights of cryptocurrency miners in the state by revising existing laws, prohibiting discriminatory electrical rates for mining firms, and prohibiting the taxation of cryptocurrencies used as a payment method.

The most recent version of the bill indicated that it was introduced in part as a preventative measure in response to certain proposals in other states, i.e., “digital asset mining has frequently encountered difficulty with state and local regulations.”

In April, for instance, legislators in the Texas state Senate introduced a bill to limit incentives for crypto miners through participation in a program designed to compensate them for load reductions on the state’s power infrastructure.

In certain jurisdictions, the crypto advocacy group Satoshi Action Fund has supported pro-mining legislation.

Arkansas’ House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill analogous to Montana’s S.B. 178. At the time of publication, the legislature’s website did not reflect that Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders had already signed this bill into law, as reported by Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter.

Porter stated, “At the state level, we can make significant progress and move things forward, while the federal government has limited options.”

Similar pro-mining legislation was advancing in the Mississippi state legislature, but it “died” in March.

Porter stated that a Missouri bill was “a little bit further behind in the process” but was nevertheless making progress in the legislature.

As part of a budget proposal for FY 2024, the Biden administration recently renewed its call for a 30% levy on cryptocurrency miners. The tax could potentially target the electricity consumption of miners.