Norway’s parliament has rejected a draft law to ban the mining of cryptocurrencies based on the proof-of-work principle. The legislation, which was proposed by the communist Red Party in March, was supported only by two other leftist parties, the Socialist Left Party and the Green Party.
As Red lawmaker Sofie Marhaug told the news portal E24: “We are obviously disappointed with the majority here”. In addition, Red said Norwegian society must determine a priority with respect to the use of energy. Bitcoin mining, according to her party, is enormously energy-intensive and puts an emphasis on the needs of other industries while at the same time pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
However, Norway’s legislature wants to prioritise the market and pass the burden of the bill on to the Norwegian electrification consumers. Moreover, the Red did not gain support for a proposal to revise the electricity surcharge for mining data centers, accusing both the United Labor Party (UP) and Democratic Centre Party (DCM) of breaking a pre-election promise. Both parties had announced they were going to seek a full electricity fee for mining farms.
Most households and businesses pay 0.15 kroner (approximately $0.02) per kilowatt-hour of energy used, but the industry, including data centers, pays just 0.0055 kroner per kW. Norway’s government announced in February that it will try to avoid a crypto ban, but made it clear it was considering various measures to reduce energy consumption in the sector. According to a Norwegian official, the country has been considering ways to limit the environmental impact of bitcoin mining, and may support a Swedish proposal for a European ban on the practice.
According to the three leftist parties, when there is an energy shortage and the challenge of cutting emissions, it is especially detrimental if power is wasted only to enrich individuals, rather than being used for socially beneficial purposes. Although the parliamentary majority is opposed to the political discrimination against mining data centers, there has been no reaction from the majority.
