Governor Andy Beshear of the US state of Kentucky signed off on a new pair of laws. These laws will see the energy-rich commonwealth offer crypto miners tax breaks should they operate within the state, with the law itself being signed into effect on Thursday.
Tax Exemption For Crypto Miners
The new legislation, Senate Bill 255 to be exact, extends the incentives the commonwealth has focusing on clean energy to crypto miners that have invested a minimum of $1 million within their equipment. Alongside this, House Bill 230 allows these miners to gain an array of excise and sales tax breaks. It should be noted that both of these taxes stand at 6%
With these two bills working in tandem, the idea is to have crypto miners start to flock to the state with all of these incentives. The overarching plan for this, as well, is to have these crypto miners start creating jobs and business revenues, which will ultimately benefit the state. Kentucky, in particular, has suffered a mass exodus of manufacturers, but the state still has its abundant supply of cheap energy, and is planning to capitalize on it.
Making Kentucky A Crypto Mining Hub
In one of the bills, the state straight up said it, explaining that Kentucky is aiming to stand as a leader within the US when it comes to “emerging industries which use substantial amounts of energy”. One of the most prominent industries of that sort is none other than crypto mining, which is infamous for its sheer power usage and heat generation.
These bills managed to breeze past the legislature of Kentucky, with the bills themselves, a 13 page one in total, having been introduced in January of this year. The bill won by a vote of 19 to 2. The 13-page bill managed to go past all avenues before being signed off, showing that the state as a whole is eager to tap into the crypto space.
US Going For Crypto
Time will tell how successful this operation may be. It’s already clear that the US, particularly Wyoming, is trying its best to bring in crypto companies by offering bank charters. Now, it seems that Kentucky is eager to cater to a whole other facet of the space, offering up its cheap electricity to a space that depends on that very fundamental in order to turn a profit.
Wyoming, in particular, has given Kraken, one of the first crypto exchanges to come into existence, a charter bank status within the state. Wyoming is generally trying to make itself the hotspot for crypto-based fintech.
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