The bill, passed by the Senate, will protect mining companies from a wide range of anti-industry actions, as well as limit the ability of local governments to fight mining.

The Montana State Senate voted to support a new bill aimed at protecting the rights of bitcoin miners (BTC) by a majority vote. In accordance with the new rules, local administrations are prohibited from raising utility rates for miners and levying additional taxes on cryptocurrency transactions.

According to the non-profit advocacy group Satoshi Action Fundce, which was actively involved in the preparation of this bill, this measure will support participants in the cryptocurrency industry in Montana during a difficult period. The decline in market prices for crypto assets during the long crypto winter, coupled with increased energy costs due to rising inflation, has caused unprecedented hardship even for the largest BTC miners.

Earlier, a similar bill aimed at protecting the rights of miners, under the working title “The Right to Mining”, was supported by the Mississippi State Senate. The new law will allow individuals to run cryptocurrency mining nodes at home, and also recognizes the potential of mining to strengthen the economy and stabilize the state’s power grid.