Norway considers temporarily banning Bitcoin and Dogecoin mining to save electricity
The Norwegian government has just announced that it will consider temporarily banning the expansion of new cryptocurrency mining activities, especially those forms of mining that consume a lot of electricity like Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
According to an announcement published on June 21, this move aims to free up resources in land, electricity, and infrastructure, prioritizing sectors that create higher economic value such as community data centers, blockchain technology, and AI. Energy Minister Terje Aasland emphasized: "Restricting electricity-consuming crypto mining helps increase resource efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
Although no specific coins were named, the Norwegian government wants to prevent data centers from mining with high-consumption technology – characteristic of coins using the Proof-of-Work mechanism like Bitcoin, $DOGE , $BCH , or $LTC .
This is not the first time Norway has tightened regulations on coin mining. In 2018, the country cut electricity subsidies for Bitcoin mines, despite having an abundant hydroelectric power supply. However, electricity prices in Norway have recently risen due to the impact of the energy agreement with Europe and a decrease in wind power generation.
In the context of Bitcoin fluctuating around 103,755 USD, the ban, if passed, could affect many miners looking for cheap electricity to operate their machinery.