Nebraska lawmakers have simply handed Legislative Invoice 526 (LB526), and whereas not explicitly anti-Bitcoin, its results could also be something however impartial. With a unanimous 49-0 vote, the Legislature despatched the invoice to Governor Jim Pillen’s desk, the place it’s anticipated to be signed into legislation. Supporters name it a commonsense infrastructure invoice. Bitcoin miners name it a slow-motion exodus within the making.
On paper, LB526 is about massive power customers. However in observe, it singles out Bitcoin mining amenities with one megawatt (MW) or better hundreds and layers on operational constraints that look extra like punishment than coverage.
Value Shifting, Public Shaming, and Curtailment
On the coronary heart of LB526 is a mandate: miners should shoulder the prices of any infrastructure upgrades wanted to help their demand. Utilities are empowered to demand direct funds or letters of credit score after conducting a “load examine.” And whereas the legislation pays lip service to “equity” and non-discrimination, it’s clear who the goal is. Bitcoin miners are the one trade named.
Additional, mining operators should notify utilities upfront, undergo their interconnection necessities, and, critically, settle for interruptible service. That implies that when the grid will get tight, it’s miners who go darkish first. Voluntary demand response, the hallmark of Bitcoin mining’s grid-friendly posture? Changed with mandated curtailment and utility discretion.
And the kicker: public disclosure of power consumption. Utilities should publish annual power utilization for every mining operation. No such requirement exists for different data-heavy sectors — not for cloud computing, not for AI clusters, not for Amazon knowledge facilities. Simply Bitcoin. It’s not simply surveillance, it’s signaling.
The Tax That Wasn’t, and the Prices That Stay
To its credit score, the Legislature dropped an earlier provision that will’ve added a 2.5¢/kWh tax on mining. This punitive levy would’ve tacked 50% onto typical industrial charges. That tax would have been an open declaration of hostility. Eradicating it was essential. However not adequate.
As a result of what stays in LB526 is a much less seen, however no much less potent deterrent: uncertainty. Miners already function on razor-thin margins and search jurisdictions with predictable energy prices and clear guidelines. As an alternative, Nebraska is providing infrastructure tolls, discretionary curtailment, and regulatory spotlighting.
The Market Responds: Warning Pictures from Miners
Trade leaders didn’t keep silent. Marathon Digital Holdings, one of many largest publicly traded mining corporations, testified that it had invested practically $200 million in Nebraska and paid over $6.5 million in taxes, and warned that if LB526 handed, additional enlargement would seemingly be scrapped.
Their message was clear: Nebraska had been a pro-mining, pro-growth jurisdiction. However LB526 sends a sign that miners aren’t welcome, or at finest, are second-class residents within the power financial system. As one government put it, “If the identical guidelines don’t apply to different energy-intensive industries, this isn’t about infrastructure, it’s about discrimination.”
Others warned that obligatory curtailment replaces cooperative grid providers with coercion. Bitcoin miners can, and do, supply real-time load shedding that stabilizes grids throughout peak demand. However that worth proposition solely works when there’s a market sign. LB526 turns it right into a legal responsibility.
Politics, Energy, and Public Utilities
Senator Mike Jacobson, the invoice’s sponsor, insisted LB526 is agnostic towards Bitcoin. “That is about electrical energy utilization,” he said. However that’s laborious to sq. with a invoice that surgically targets one person class.
Jacobson pointed to Kearney, the place half town’s energy goes to a single mining facility. However quite than view that as a possibility, a dispatchable industrial buyer prepared to scale up or down based mostly on grid wants, the Legislature opted for danger aversion and central planning.
And in Nebraska’s public energy mannequin, that issues. With each utility publicly owned, the regulatory posture of the state isn’t advisory, it’s existential. There isn’t any retail competitors. If Nebraska’s energy authorities start treating Bitcoin miners like unreliable freeloaders quite than prepared companions, miners don’t have any recourse. Simply the exit.
For now, LB526 awaits solely the governor’s signature. On condition that LB526 was launched on the behest of the governor, it’s prone to be signed. As soon as enacted, it is going to take impact October 1, 2025. Miners have till then to resolve: adapt, relocate, or fold.
States like Texas, Wyoming, and North Dakota have gone the wrong way, providing tax readability, grid integration, and authorized safety. Nebraska, as soon as on that shortlist, could discover itself dropping off the radar.
Bitcoin mining doesn’t want handouts. Nevertheless it does want equal footing. LB526 imposes prices, limits flexibility, and broadcasts suspicion. If the objective was to steadiness innovation with infrastructure, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
As a result of when one trade is burdened whereas others are exempted, when voluntary partnerships are changed with mandates, and when operational knowledge is made public for no clear motive, it’s not laborious to see why miners view LB526 not as regulation, however as retaliation.
It is a visitor submit by Colin Crossman. Opinions expressed are fully their very own and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Journal.
