New York town weighs crypto mining and AI data center ban — SkimNews
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- Plattsburgh held a Thursday public hearing where Mayor Wendell Hughes and the common council debated a proposed 12-month moratorium on "certain high energy computing facilities," including crypto mining and AI data centers.
- The proposed moratorium would halt land-use approvals for any operation requiring 300 or more kilowatts, applying the same threshold to both crypto mining and AI data centers under one rule.
- Mayor Wendell Hughes had not approved the moratorium as of Tuesday, with the council's next meeting scheduled for Sept. 17.
- Plattsburgh was one of the first U.S. jurisdictions to ban Bitcoin mining outright in 2018, imposing an 18-month moratorium driven by resident concerns over rising electricity costs.
- Many crypto miners have pivoted toward AI and high-performance computing amid rising power costs and falling token prices — meaning the moratorium, if passed, would catch both legacy mining and newer AI-focused facilities under the same 300 kW threshold.
Why it matters: Plattsburgh's proposed 12-month pause would halt approvals for any facility drawing 300+ kW, targeting crypto mining and AI data centers alike — a notable expansion given the industry's documented pivot from mining to AI workloads amid rising power costs and falling token prices.
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