Mississippi Senate passes bill to protect bitcoin miners

Mississippi lawmakers have successfully passed new laws to support the rights of bitcoin (BTC) miners and contract operators in the southeastern state of the United States.

Mississippi unveils the right to mine

Lawmakers from the Mississippi Senate have passed a new bill that may not only legalize bitcoin mining operations, but could protect the rights of contract operators in the state if it passes into law.

The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Josh Harkins earlier in January 2023 under the title “Right to Mine,” is seen by lawmakers as a necessity to encourage cryptocurrency-based investments in the state. It will provide legal protection to individuals or businesses looking to do proof-of-work (PoW) mining in Mississippi.

“The state of Mississippi wants to explore the potential for mining digital assets in our state, protect the right of individuals and companies to mine digital assets in our state, and provide legal certainty for the digital asset mining industry.”

The Right to Mine Bill.

Dennis Porter, founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, expressed his excitement about the historic event, saying, “I am proud to be part of this historic move in Mississippi. There is still more work to be done.”

Growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies in the United States

Mississippi’s new Bitcoin pro-Bitcoin law signals a shift in the right direction in the acceptance of blockchain technology and its applications. However, not everyone agrees to accept bitcoin mining and all that it entails, with many quarters citing its negative impact on the environment as a major concern.

In December 2022, British Columbia authorities shut down the supply of electricity to new bitcoin (BTC) mining companies in the region for 18 months.

Despite the challenges, the future looks very bright for Proof-of-Work mining, as the recent surge in the price of Bitcoin and other crypto-assets has greatly improved the returns of Bitcoin mining. At the time of writing, the bitcoin network has a hash rate of 269.95 million, which is a 32.12% increase over last year, according to YCharts.

With some analysts already predicting that the bull season is about to come to an end, a large number of players in the bitcoin mining sector have begun making strategic moves aimed at getting them in a position to make the most of the impending crypto summer.

As recently reported by crypto.news, publicly traded bitcoin miners Hut 8 Mining and USBTC have teamed up to form Hut 8 Corp, an 825 MW heavy bitcoin miner.