According to records of the Montana Legislature, the governor signed SB 178 into law after the bill passed in the state House and Senate. The legislation was focused on enshrining crypto miners’ rights by revising the existing laws, not allowing taxation for cryptocurrencies as a payment method, and prohibiting electrical rates for mining firms.
The latest version of the bill suggests that the legislation was introduced as a preventive measure in response to several proposals issued by other states which stated that digital asset mining faced regulatory difficulties at the state and local level.
The Crypto Advocacy Group, Satoshi Action Fund has supported several pro–mining legislation in certain states. The Lawmakers in the Arkansas State House and Senate passed a bill similar to Montana’s SB 178. Dennis Porter, the CEO of Satoshi Action Fund also reported that Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckaee Sanders also signed the bill into law. However, the legislature’s website did not discuss such an action yet.
Furthermore, Porter added that at the state level, the country has made immense progress in making the ecosystem comfortable for cryptocurrencies. However, there isn’t much that the federal government has done in the meantime.
Similar pro–mining legislation had been going ahead in the Mississippi state legislature, however, the bill died in March itself. The Porter further added that the Missouri bill has stayed a little behind in the process. Alongside, the Biden administration also renewed a push for a 30% tax for cryptocurrency miners at the federal level for FY2024 which would potentially target miners’ electricity usage.
