Arizona is one step nearer to locking in authorized protections for crypto miners and blockchain node operators.
On Thursday, the state legislature handed HB 2342, a invoice that protects people who mine Bitcoin or function blockchain nodes at house from zoning and utilization restrictions imposed by cities or counties.
WATCH: Arizona Senate PASSES Bitcoin mining rights invoice, by a vote of 17-12 https://t.co/S8YjYoTp3C pic.twitter.com/w8E00DXnkI
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The invoice cleared the Arizona Senate in a slim 17–12 vote and now heads to Governor Katie Hobbs for ultimate approval.
Launched in January by Rep. Teresa Martinez (R), HB 2342 amends Arizona’s legal guidelines to make the usage of computational energy in residences a matter of “statewide concern,” successfully stripping native governments of regulatory authority on this space.
Defining “computational energy” broadly to incorporate blockchain operations like mining and working nodes, the invoice additionally targets synthetic intelligence workloads, cloud computing, and high-performance scientific analysis performed from house setups.
The invoice’s development is a part of Arizona’s broader crypto-forward stance, as it’s rising as a nationwide chief amongst U.S. states experimenting with sovereign-level crypto adoption.
Final month, lawmakers pushed ahead two complementary proposals, the Strategic Digital Property Reserve Invoice (SB 1373) and the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (SB 1025).
If signed into regulation, these payments would permit Arizona to construct state-managed reserves of digital belongings, together with utilizing seized crypto and investing as much as 10% of the state treasury or retirement funds into Bitcoin.
Roughly 26 states have launched related Bitcoin reserve payments, however Arizona is the closest to getting one over the end line, in line with knowledge from Bitcoin Legal guidelines’ reserve invoice tracker.
Neighboring states are racing to maintain up. Texas handed its personal Senate model of a Bitcoin reserve invoice (SB-21) final month, whereas Oklahoma’s HB 1203 sailed by way of its Home 77–15 and awaits a Senate vote.
In the meantime, Kentucky not too long ago took a unique route, signing HB 701 into regulation to formally defend self-custodied crypto and make clear that mining and staking actions are usually not securities or cash transmission.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair