The state of Oklahoma is leading the way among its peers as lawmakers have recently introduced legislation that aimed to provide tax incentives to bitcoin and cryptocurrency miners who establish their businesses in the region.
Just a few weeks back Oklahoma’s governor Kevin Stitt announced a new crypto mining headquarters in Pryor. Later Sen. John Montgomery along with state representative Ryan Martinez presented their “Commercial Digital Asset Mining Act of 2022” on the Senate floor.
The draft focused on reducing the expenditures related to hardware and electricity used by commercial mining operations. The bill states,
“The original intent of the Legislature that the Oklahoma Tax Code recognize[s] the continuing development of new and advanced manufacturing and industrial processing technologies has led to new industrial processes.”
To summarize, Montgomery’s bill would establish a framework of incentives meant to draw crypto mining businesses to Oklahoma. He also spoke on the cap on tax credits, and how much the businesses can receive in incentives, which is yet to be determined, but the senator is targeting incentives worth no more than $5 million.
The latest Public records revealed that the legislation was cleared by the Oklahoma Senate on March 22 in a 29-16 vote. The bill moved to the legislature’s lower chamber on March 23 and was referred to its technology committee on March 30.
Oklahoma Is One Of The Best States For Crypto Mining- Survey
In a recent survey by commodity.com, researchers have analyzed data from several sources and created a composite score based on factors like State income tax burden, Electricity rates, Average internet speed, cost of living, etc. Taking these factors into account, Oklahoma emerged as one of the best states for cryptocurrency mining besides North Dakota, and Tennessee.
However, states like Illinois and Georgia are also eyeing similar measures. In fact, Kentucky’s government approved tax incentives last year, but New York, on the other hand, is going in the opposite direction.
The “mining” process requires sophisticated hardware which is usually tedious and costly and has come under heavy criticism. For this reason, New York lawmakers are pushing for restrictions on the state’s mining sector, citing environmental concerns.
Previously TronWeekly had reported on the Bitcoin supply reaching 19 million BTC out of a total of 21 million, leaving only 2 million units to be minted.