US state legislators. Mississippi Y Missouri have introduced bills that seek to legally protect the rights of their citizens to run a Bitcoin node and mine BTC.
Excerpt from the Missouri Bill
Bills have been introduced to both the Houses and Senates of the respective states, with Senator Josh Harkins (R) and Representative Jody Steverson (R) leading the movement within Mississippi. Rep. Phil Christofanelli (R) of Missouri introduced his respective bill to the House. The bills of both states use language of the Satoshi Action Fund. Among the explicit rights for nodes and mining, the bills also contain language that prohibits:
- Political subdivisions of the state that create requirements that are not in line with other data center requirements and change the zoning of bitcoin miners without notice.
- Ban on discriminatory energy rates targeting bitcoin miners.
- Strong ordinances targeting mining facilities that are not in line with other strong ordinances within the community.
- The operation of nodes or miners is considered the act of transmitting money.
Just yesterday, a New Hampshire commission recommended that the state Department of Energy investigate how bitcoin mining could be integrated into power grids across the state. In addition to this recommendation, a published report in November 2022 addressed to members of the Texas legislature recommended making bitcoin an authorized investment for the state, while giving tax breaks to local BTC miners.
“I see an opportunity for states that were left out of the tech boom to have a real chance to participate in the Bitcoin boom,” said Dennis Porter, CEO and founder of the Satoshi Action Fund. “Mining facilities are often built in rural parts of the United States. We hope that Missouri and Mississippi see this potential and begin to open up their states to Bitcoin mining businesses.”
All the reports signify a growing interest from states across the United States in how they can benefit from bitcoin adoption and the utilization of bitcoin mining within their energy networks. The continued political action of people like Bitcoin Policy Institute and the Satoshi Action Fund contribute greatly to the education of legislators.
“Now that these bills have been written and introduced, we must continue the education process for the elected leaders of the state of Mississippi,” Porter stated.
Regarding the concerns expressed by Bitcoiners about the consolidation Of the hash rate in North American jurisdictions, Porter said that “mining consolidation is a concern, but it is much less of a concern than node consolidation. The nodes and users of the Bitcoin network are the ones in control, Blocksize Wars proved it. However, extreme mining consolidation could become a risk. We at Satoshi Action strongly support hash rate growth outside of the US and North America.”
Eric Peterson, policy director for the Satoshi Act Fund has also been working to advise Mississippi. He explains how “Due to its unique characteristics, Bitcoin miners are looking to expand their footprint in the state. Policymakers can see the opportunities these miners provide, especially in terms of job creation in rural areas.”
If the bills are signed into law, they could help raise interest from state governments, something Peterson is apparently building on. “The most important concept for lawmakers to understand is that Bitcoin is not going away anytime soon,” he said. “Even if states don’t support the industry, they need to have a regulatory structure that works and ensure that companies that do business in this state can do it long-term in their state.”
