CASE STUDY | New York Weighs 1-Year Crypto Mining Moratorium Due to Rising Electricity Costs

Plattsburgh, New York, is considering a 12-month moratorium on new high-energy cryptocurrency mining operations reviving concerns over the strain that large-scale mining can place on local electricity supplies.

The proposed land-use measure would halt approvals for new computing facilities consuming 300 kilowatts or more including cryptocurrency mining operations. The city held a public hearing on the proposal but Mayor Wendell Hughes had not approved the moratorium as of this writing. The council is due to consider the measure again in mid-September 2026.

The move echoes Plattsburgh’s earlier response to crypto mining.

In 2018, the city became one of the first U.S. jurisdictions to impose an outright Bitcoin mining moratorium after residents raised concerns about rising electricity costs. That restriction lasted 18 months.

EDITORIAL | Is Bitcoin Mining Robbing the World’s Poor of Cheap Electricity?

The latest proposal highlights a continuing challenge for Bitcoin miners:

Access to cheap and reliable electricity.

Mining operations require large amounts of power to run specialized computing equipment around the clock. As electricity costs rise and mining economics become more competitive, jurisdictions with limited power capacity are increasingly scrutinizing whether mining operations justify their impact on local energy markets.