A moratorium on bitcoin mining has been passed by the New york

The New York State Senate has approved a contentious

proof-of-work (PoW) mining ban measure, which would prevent any new Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies from being established in the state.

Last month, the state assembly enacted the PoW mining ban measure for the first time. For the next two years, it plans to restrict any new mining operations in the state. The law is now on its way to the governor's office, and if adopted, it will make New York the first state in the US to ban crypto mining.

Bitcoin miners mostly employ the PoW mining consensus, which is regarded as one of the safest and most decentralized methods of mining. However, the practice is divisive because it necessitates an enormous amount of energy.

Many senators switched their votes from unsure to in favour of the bill, citing they were worried about carbon emissions.

Not only the bill will restrict new mining operations, but also it would deny license renewals to those already functioning in the state. Any new PoW mining facility in the state would have to run entirely on renewable energy.

Bitcoin's mining consensus method has been a hot issue of controversy among regulators, who have been supported by environmentalists and billionaire lobbies advocating for proof-of-stake (PoS) mining consensus, which uses significantly less energy. Greenpeace and Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, have been pushing for a change in the Bitcoin code.

Authorities often focus solely on Bitcoin miners' high energy consumption, neglecting the fact that a large portion of this energy originates from renewable sources, particularly in New York, where renewable energy accounts for 50% of total energy use.

At the height of the bull market last year, critics of PoW mining gained traction. However, towards the end of last year, a MicroStrategy-led Bitcoin mining council research revealed that the BTC network consumes more than 60% of its electricity from clean sources.

The European Parliament considered a similar moratorium on PoW mining, but it was later altered to remove the ban due to public outcry.

CoinGabbar predicts that Newyork's move to prohibit PoW mining will have a domino effect, with other states following suit. The United States now leads the world in Bitcoin hash rate, with 38 per cent of the network's mining power.