these guys that are mining the bitcoins
are riding into town taking advantage of
a situation and they'll be gone in a
flash those computers or I put a truck
and gone and it one day probably and no
one here is gonna have a bad as of this
is a short trip for the long term I'm on
the ferry to Plattsburgh New York which
is considering becoming the first town
in America to ban cryptocurrency mining
we're gonna meet with miners and people
in local government to find out more
about this debate in recent years
Bitcoin has brought the concept of
cryptocurrency
into the mainstream but what most people
don't realize is that the process of
mining each Bitcoin uses a lot of
electricity the cost of powering a large
Bitcoin mine which is essentially a
warehouse full of computers running 24
hours a day can eat into profit so
crypto investors are constantly on the
hunt for the cheapest power possible
about two years ago several companies
found Plattsburgh New York thanks to a
deal with a hydroelectric dam the town
has some of the cheapest electricity in
the world Tier one is usually really six
cents a kilowatt-hour
we actually sell our power to our
commercial users in the city at half
that price so we're getting an awful lot
more attention all of a sudden because
of that the miners spiked the power
usage in Plattsburgh raising the cost of
electricity for everyone some people saw
their electrical bills double or even
triple and the Bitcoin companies have
yet to bring jobs in or otherwise
improve the local economy in response
Plattsburgh City Council proposed an
18-month ban on all kinds of crypto
mining putting a freeze on new
businesses and preventing current
businesses from expanding the ban is
among the first of its kind and there's
concern in the Bitcoin community that it
could set precedent for similar
sanctions throughout the country
what's the potential for Bitcoin mining
here in my - unlimited I mean we have
inexpensive power because we have a
contract that there's there's ample
unused industrial space here
Plattsburgh could easily become a tech
hub an incubator space for for
blockchain technology and and it could
bring in money and and businesses and
intellectual people and it's the
opportunity of a lifetime what happens
to your company if this ban goes through
they're talking about imposing an
18-month moratorium on on all new
permits and all new mining operations
coming into town I'd like to say we're
80 percent confident that we're gonna be
allowed to continue to operate you know
as is whether or not we'd be able to
grow and get any more power would be the
question tom isn't the only crypto minor
in Plattsburgh the biggest operation in
town belongs to a company called coin
main I reached out to them early in my
research they never responded but they
weren't hard to find oh here we go
here's a fan yeah here's a fan I think
that this is the cryptocurrency mine
it's like yeah the doors are open we
were told that they keep all the doors
open because the heat they send the heat
out here no one from the mine would give
us an interview but in a way the
building spoke for itself I'm standing
about a hundred feet in front of this
Bitcoin mine it doesn't really look like
much it's a super nondescript building
here next to a family dollar but I can
hear the Bitcoin mining rigs like from
all the way out here
the fans are running full blast this is
the biggest Bitcoin mine here in
Plattsburgh a lot of money had gone into
the mine but what was that a show for it
other than this empty storefront
it's estimated that the two mines are
using about 10% of Plattsburgh's power
which concerns Mayor Colin Reid I met up
with him before the band went to vote to
hear his side can you tell me what
happened in January in February for the
average Plattsburgh resident I've been
hearing a lot of complaints that their
bills electric bills have gone up by a
hundred or two hundred dollars one thing
I'm having trouble understanding is why
if one company or two companies are
using 10% of the town's electricity why
aren't they paying
why are the residents subsidizing this
the city doesn't have power to set our
power rates if we want to change our
power rate we actually have to seek
permission from a state agency called
the Public Service Commission we're
trying to do that at the same time so
that may alleviate some of this but we
were also under a quota it's not like we
can buy all the power we want we're
limited to 104 megawatts and if we go
over that limit I've started buying
expensive power to supplement having
talked to the council are you expecting
they'll bill to pass I would imagine so
this is a complicated issue as you know
but those people who see a large lectric
bill you know they've got all the
clarity they need this is a public
hearings on the local law imposing a
moratorium on commercial cryptocurrency
mining operations in the city of
Plattsburgh and at this time I'd like to
open up an opportunity for a public
comment please I'm not in favor of the
Bitcoin establishments using the power
they're here to take advantage of
something it's a cheap commodity there's
no jobs being created to speak up
none whatsoever I'm Tom Ellsworth I do
live in the city of Plattsburgh these
computers are doing something which is a
lot more than just binding this
speculative amount of money governments
are using blockchain technology thanks
for using blood take psychology
so all these miners are doing something
not just mining bitcoins you start to
dine Bitcoin miners you're not going to
get the IBM's you're not going to get
the googles and the Facebook's so
realize that this could change
Plattsburgh forever in a good way
like to add one set of comment because I
think there's a conception here that it
allows us and we go over the quota
charge the entire bill to this industry
no it doesn't this isn't because we're
Luddite so it isn't because we're afraid
of cryptocurrency so please have that
weigh very heavily in your judgments
that we have to figure out how to do
this right be prepared for a vote yes
yes well call please yes yes yes yes yes
yes
so Plattsburgh has just become the first
town in America to implement a
cryptocurrency mining ban the ban isn't
meant to be permanent but whether
they'll still be cryptocurrency mining
in 18 months remains to be seen
we've spent this amount of time to
develop our business model and our
business model is growing and there's
ample opportunity we're gonna grow our
business model and it just might not be
in Plattsburgh
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