The British Columbia government has put an 18-month halt on electricity supplies to new bitcoin (BTC) mining companies in the region. The change has no impact on currently operating crypto miners.
No space for more bitcoin miners
The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) has issued an 18-month suspension of electricity to new bitcoin (BTC) mining companies in the region.
The decision, according to the authorities, is intended to maintain the city’s clean energy supply while also providing them time to engage with cryptocurrency miners and establish a longer-term framework for bitcoin mining operations in the region.
According to a statement given by Josie Osborne, the Minister of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovation for British Columbia, the region’s crypto-mining operations consume a large amount of electricity, and the data centres only provide a minimal number of jobs to residents.
In order to protect our electricity supply for people switching to electric vehicles and heat pumps, as well as for companies and industries undertaking electrification projects which also reduce carbon emissions and create employment and economic opportunities, we are suspending electricity connection requests from crypto mining operators, the official continued.
Bitcoin miners are having trouble.
The year 2022 has been fairly challenging for the global financial system, and the bitcoin mining sector is also suffering the effects of the crypto winter, with major declines in mining revenue and hash rate.
According to a report from last month, Core Scientific, the largest publicly traded bitcoin mining business in the United States, had a $400 million quarterly loss, bringing its overall losses for the entire year of 2022 to a startling $1.7 billion.
In addition to the unfavourable market conditions that have caused the price of bitcoin (BTC) to plunge by more than 70% since reaching an all-time high of around $70k in late 2021, officials from many different countries are increasingly waging war against BTC miners.
The Canadian state of Manitoba imposed an 18-month ban on any new bitcoin mining companies in the region earlier this month.
BTC’s price is currently down 4.68 per cent over the past week and is trading around the $18,851 mark, with trackers reporting that its market size is $324.23 billion.