New York State Senator Liz Krueger presented a bill on Wednesday aimed at implementing excise taxes on energy consumed by crypto mining firms operating within the state.
The proposed excise tax, which marks another legislative attempt of its kind, will be structured in tiers. There will be no tax for miners using 2.25 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) or less annually, while those consuming between 2.26 million and 5 million kWh will incur a charge of 2 cents per kWh.
Miners utilizing between 5 million and 10 million kWh annually will face a tax of 3 cents per kWh. For those consuming up to 20 million kWh, the tax will be 4 cents per kWh, and any miner exceeding 20 million kWh per year will be charged a tax of 5 cents per kWh.
The legislation allows exemptions for miners relying on 100% renewable energy sources. Clean energy miners were permitted to function in New York under a two-year mining ban moratorium, which was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022 and is set to expire in 2024.
Crypto mining is a fiercely competitive industry with minimal profit margins. The introduction of an energy tax could further diminish these margins and push miners who depend on grid electricity out of New York, relocating to jurisdictions free from such burdens.
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Electricity costs are crucial to survival in the mining industry
Companies capable of acquiring land, constructing facilities, and developing the necessary infrastructure to utilize renewable energy sources in remote areas can mitigate the unpredictable cost of energy, a vital component for mining.
This positions these companies advantageously over smaller miners and large enterprises that rely on electricity from the grid priced at retail rates.
The median cost of mining a single Bitcoin (BTC) exceeded $70,000 in Q2 2025, amid increasing mining difficulty and network hashrate, as reported by TheMinerMag.
During the first quarter of 2025, energy prices rose to approximately $0.08 per kWh, effectively doubling costs relative to revenue for TeraWulf, a mining firm with a facility in upstate New York, which reported a loss of $61.4 million during that period.
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