On June 8, local time, the New York Senate Bill S6486B was passed by the House of Lords with 36 votes in favor and 27 votes against. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Kevin S. Parker, who chairs the Energy and Telecommunications Committee, has now moved to the House of Representatives.

The bill initially said it would ban bitcoin mining across New York state for three years as a way to test the environmental impact of bitcoin mining. The latest bill shows that the original three-year time limit has been removed.

The official New York State Senate tweeted: "#NYSenate Bill S6486B sponsored by @SenatorParker has now passed (36:27, unofficial). Suspend the use of proof-of-work methods to verify the comprehensive business of blockchain.

The revised bill amends New York state's Environmental Protection Act in such a way that it would prevent new mining companies from being licensed to operate "carbon-fuelled power generation facilities." In addition, the revised bill also basically limits the electricity consumption of existing mining companies, and the electricity consumption of mining companies that are already up and running cannot exceed the current level. Mining activities (subjects) of the proof-of-work mechanism must also issue a "General Environmental Impact Report".

Once the bill takes effect, it will ban not only Bitcoin mining, but also other cryptocurrencies that use proof-of-work consensus. Proof of Work refers to the energy-intensive process of using computing power to verify transactions on the blockchain and create new tokens.

According to foreign media reports, the drafters of the bill are worried about more examples of old power plants converted into large-scale bitcoin mining farms in New York state. The local Greenidge Generation in New York used to be a coal-fired power plant and has now been transformed into a bitcoin mining farm, but the company now uses natural gas for mining.

The new bill reads: “Due to reduced energy demand, increased transmission capacity, and increased clean energy, many fossil-fuel power plants across the state have shut down in recent years ... [mining] that uses a proof-of-work verification method to verify blockchain transactions Integrated operations are bringing these plants back online, using much more energy than previously used intermittently, and can have a significant negative impact on air quality, especially in environmentally conscious communities."

Although Bitcoin supporters believe that the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining is extremely cost-effective compared with traditional finance, and many Bitcoin mining companies use clean energy.

However, my country's Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Qinghai have successively issued bans on virtual currency mining. The South American country El Salvador, which has just passed the "Bitcoin Law" and officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal currency, announced that it will use volcanic geothermal energy to carry out mining operations.

It is conceivable that the two major problems of energy issues and the value of Bitcoin itself will continue to be the focus of the supervision of Bitcoin mining by authorities around the world.