NY town wants new cryptocurrency miners to be 'presentable'
MASSENA, N.Y. - A New York town along the Canadian border plans to impose a 90-day moratorium on new cryptocurrency mining operations to make sure local roadsides are not cluttered with trailers and shipping containers loaded with computers.
Massena Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy said officials decided to draw up new regulations for miners after noticing trailers with computers in them on a main road in the town.
"We don’t want it littered with these trailers that are pumping out Bitcoin,"
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Cryptocurrency operations have been drawn to this part of northern New York for years because of the availability of cheap hydropower. Operations can requires hundreds of computers to make the complex calculations required to mine cryptocurrencies.
Massena Electric is currently negotiating with three cryptocurrency operations and has its own moratorium on working with any new ones.
"The key components for the developers is low-cost electricity and reliability, which are two things we’ve always had," said Andrew McMahon, Massena Electric superintendent.