Arkansas scraps bill restricting mining near military bases

A bill that would have banned BTC block reward miners from setting up operations within a 30-mile radius of a military facility has been rejected in Arkansas.

The City, County and Local Affairs Committee at the State Senate voted 6-1 against the proposed Senate Bill 30, which was sponsored by Sen. Ricky Hill (R-Cabot).

According to local reports, the lengthy debate on the bill spilled over to discussions on digital assets in general, putting Sen. Hill on the defensive as he attempted to separate his stance on ‘crypto’ and his fight against miners stationed close to military operations.

“Crypto is here to stay; I am not anti-crypto; I am pro-military; my stance here is I want to do all I can to protect our military and their facilities,” Hill told the committee members.

He added that Arkansas has over 53,000 square miles and that his bill would only restrict a 30-mile radius around five military facilities. However, the committee members were unsold on the bill’s merits or the state’s role in restricting mining activities, which they say is a federal role.

“If our federal government, under two different administrations, has not seen the threat, I think it’s not in our interest to make that decision for them,” said Sen. Joshua Bryant (R-Rogers).

While the bill would apply to the five military facilities in Arkansas, Sen. Hill’s immediate target was a mining operation under construction in Cabot, about five miles from the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville. Florida-based Interstate Holdings owns the mine and has received heavy criticism from the local community and its leadership for months, led by Cabot Mayor Ken Kincade. Initially, the complaints were centered on common criticism, such as the noise levels at the prospective mine and the energy consumption. However, the local leaders introduced the national security concerns angle late last year, which culminated in Sen. Hill’s bill.

The bill sought to align itself with a broader wave of criticism of miners deploying their rigs close to military facilities in the United States, owing to the outsized influence of Chinese investors in these companies.

Last May, then-president Joe Biden issued an executive order barring Mine One Partners, a BTC miner, from acquiring land in Cheyenne, Wyoming, near the Francis Warren Air Force Base. Mine One is based in the British Virgin Islands but is reportedly owned by Chinese nationals.

In his order, former President Biden stated that the proximity of the operation to a “strategic missile base and key element of America’s nuclear triad, and the presence of specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities, presents a national security risk to the United States.”

The Arkansas bill sought to evoke similar concerns, with Sen. Hill stating last December, “Why did they pick this facility that’s less than five miles away from our air base? This is a national security concern.”

Canadian BTC miner Bitfarms explores AI

Elsewhere, one of Canada’s largest BTC block reward miners, Bitfarms, is exploring a shift to artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The Toronto-based company announced that it enlisted the services of two consultants—Appleby Strategy Group and World Wide Technology—to conduct a feasibility analysis on its mining sites in Canada and the U.S. and advise on an AI strategy.

Bitfarms joins dozens of other BTC miners seeking greener pastures in AI due to the ever-reducing revenues from their mining operations since the BTC halving last April. With AI the biggest tech buzzword and with over $3 trillion to be invested in the technology by 2030, the miners are pivoting away from BTC.

Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT), Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZW), Bitdeer (NASDAQ: BTDR), Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), Iris Energy (NASDAQ: IREN), and DMG Blockchain (NASDAQ: DMGGF) are among the miners who now offer data centers to AI clients.

Commenting on the pivot, CEO Ben Gagnon said that the company has been in discussions with AI and high-performance computing (HPC) clients, and “we are confident that our North American portfolio pipeline is strongly suited for HPC/AI.”

“The contracts associated with HPC/AI customers provide long-term, steady cash flows and earnings streams while our [BTC] mining operations will continue to monetize [BTC] ‘s flexible upside potential, creating a powerful and resilient portfolio that will generate long-term value for our shareholders.”

Bitfarms operates 12 mining sites across the U.S., Canada, Argentina and Paraguay. However, it announced a week ago that it had signed an agreement to sell the largest of its three mining sites in Paraguay to rival Hive Digital (TSXV: HIVE). More sales could be due soon in Latin America, with Gagnon revealing that the company intends to have at least 80% of its operations in North America by the end of this year.

In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.

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