Adelle Nazarian: 'Grave Injustice' to Ban Bitcoin Mining

American Blockchain PAC CEO Adelle Nazarian said in a Friday interview that it would be an “injustice” for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a two-year ban on bitcoin mining into law.

“I think it would be a mistake and truly a grave injustice to ban bitcoin mining when it’s such an incredible tool for wealth generation … especially when we’re on the verge of a recession,” Nazarian said in a segment with Fox Business Network’s Charles Payne.

New York’s Senate passed a proposal on Friday that would impose a two-year moratorium on new mining operations unless they use renewable energy, sending it to Hochul’s desk. The governor has 10 days to decide whether to sign it into law.

The proposal would make New York the first state in the country to impose limits on mining operations, and potentially solidify the status that more conservative states enjoy as leaders in the industry. Georgia accounted for 30.8 percent of bitcoin mining hash power in the United States as of December, according to a Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance study. Texas and Kentucky virtually tied for second place, at 11.2 and 10.9 percent, respectively, while New York came in fourth, with just 9.8 percent.

The proposal would only apply exclusively to new mining operations, but not those already in the state. That means several large operations would be grandfathered in, including Riot Blockchain’s facility in Massena, New York, as well as Greenidge Generation Holdings in Finger Lakes.

Hochul, a Democrat, hasn’t said whether she will sign the bill. While New York’s Democratic officeholders mostly hostile toward cryptocurrency, at least one statewide elected official is more sympathetic. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) who is set to speak at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022 conference this month, is cosponsoring a bipartisan proposal with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) that would more clearly define the jurisdiction of federal agencies — including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — to regulate the sector. Unelected regulators have been particularly aggressive this year in suggesting they plan to write their own rules without consent from Congress.

Nazarian heads the nonprofit American Blockchain PAC that Todd White founded last year in hopes of raising $300 million to advocate for candidates who support cryptocurrency.

“This notion that maybe we should be embracing bitcoin, embracing blockchain, embracing the DeFI revolution instead of states like New York making it harder to mine crypto … shouldn’t we be embracing it?” Payne asked Nazarian. “Isn’t that part of our ethos?”

She replied thatproposals to crack down on the industry would put Americans at a disadvantage compared to China, citing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2019 assertion that he wanted to “seize the opportunities” inherent to blockchain technology.

“China is all about centralized power and control,” Nazarian said.” In fact, Xi Jinping … [said] China will dominate the heights of blockchain because he knows how important and critical it is to the future.

“That’s exactly why the American Blockchain PAC was founded,” she added. “To ensure that doesn’t happen, and that there is sound regulation so that Americans can prosper.”

Watch the full segment above via Fox Business Network.