This New York Town Passes Bitcoin Mining Regulations

The town of Massena in upstate New York has passed bitcoin mining regulations after years of maintaining a moratorium, paving the way for operators like Coinmint to expand their capacities.

According to a local news report from North Country Now on Saturday, the Massena town board members approved the regulations during a meeting on Sep. 19 after a six-year review process.

The new regulations prohibit seabed containers from being used as infrastructure to house bitcoin mining machines and provide guidelines on where such operations can be established, such as within industrial zones. Additional requirements, such as noise standards, have also been implemented.

This news comes as a relief to companies like Coinmint (referred to as North Country Colocation Services in the local news report), which had been seeking regulatory clarification before pitching investors to fund potential expansion projects. The firm placed on hold a plan that was previously reported to be bringing close to 100 jobs with a $100 million investment.

Coinmint was founded in 2016 by two childhood friends, who later became adversaries in a lawsuit, to enter the bitcoin mining sector. In 2018, the firm took over a former Alcoa Aluminum smelter in Massena to operate a colocation facility using a container setup to provide hosting capacities for companies like CleanSpark and the former Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT).

The North Country Now report noted that the town of Massena began imposing a moratorium on bitcoin mining expansion after discovering that early operators were using seabed containers to house bitcoin mining machines. While working towards regulation of such activities, the town had been extending the moratorium on a quarterly or semi-annual basis, with the latest moratorium set to expire on Sep. 30.