Digital Power Network Opposes New York A.10009-B, Warning Cryptomining Excise Tax Would Burden Digital Infrastructure and Economic Development

ISSUE BRIEF: PART II – A.10009-B: Oppose the Cryptomining Excise Tax

Background
The Digital Power Network, the largest coalition of Bitcoin miners and digital infrastructure leaders in the United States, strongly opposes Part II of the Assembly One House Budget Proposal, A.10009-B.

This budget proposal would create an excise tax on energy used in digital asset mining using proof-of-work authentication methods. This proposal is not a neutral fiscal measure. It is a de facto ban on an entire industry, disguised as tax policy. If enacted, it would undermine grid reliability, and set a dangerous precedent for targeting lawful industries through discriminatory taxation.

The Problem
This bill arbitrarily singles out Bitcoin mining while leaving other high-load industries untouched. Data centers, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, and heavy industry consume comparable or greater amounts of power, yet face no such penalty. By carving out proof-of-work mining for unique taxation, the legislation violates the principle of neutrality in taxation and raises serious constitutional concerns under the Commerce Clause and equal protection standards. If lawmakers can single out one form of computation for punitive taxation, no industry is safe from being targeted for political reasons.

The tax structure itself confirms the intent to eliminate commercial mining. Facilities consuming more than 20 million kilowatt-hours annually, the size of any modern industrial mine, would face a tax of five cents per kilowatt-hour. For a 100 MW facility consuming approximately 876 million kWh annually, that equates to more than $40 million in new annual liability. Even mid-size facilities would be hit with millions in additional costs, far beyond operational margins. This is not regulation; it is forced closure.

Energy Impact
Miners already source much of their power from grid-tied hydroelectric, nuclear, and renewable generation. Far from straining the system, miners are flexible demand resources that shut down within seconds during periods of grid stress, freeing up power for homes and businesses and reducing wholesale price spikes. Eliminating this resource would make the grid more fragile and more expensive for consumers at precisely the time demand from electrification and artificial intelligence is accelerating.

Socio-Economic Impact
Miners have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term infrastructure across New York State, redeveloping abandoned industrial sites and brownfields into productive facilities. They anchor utility revenues with long-term contracts and absorb excess load during periods of low demand, thus enabling new renewable and transmission investments and driving grid decarbonization aligned with the state’s climate goals. They provide jobs, expand the tax base, and bring economic activity to rural and economically distressed regions. Stripping these investments away would devastate local communities while pushing miners to neighboring states that are actively courting digital infrastructure.

This budget proposal is not a consumer protection measure. It will not lower electricity bills. It will not advance New York’s clean energy goals. Instead, it will raise costs to local businesses, eliminate jobs, destabilize the grid, and signal to every investor that New York is closed to industries that lawmakers and regulators disfavors.

About the Digital Power Network
The Digital Power Network, an affiliate of the Digital Chamber, is the largest coalition of Bitcoin miners and digital infrastructure providers, advocating for policies that support innovation, grid reliability, and commercially viable pathways for digital infrastructure deployment across the United States.