Banning Bitcoin: The Material and Normative Dimensions of Energy Security in the Regulation of Cryptocurrency Mining in the United States and Canada
2026-06-22
New digital industries like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cryptocurrency mining are voracious energy consumers, with complex implications for states’ climate action, economic development, and energy security. We explore the politics of these emergent industries by examining subnational regulatory responses to the recent “crypto rush” in North America. We explore the interplay of material and interpretive dimensions of energy security and climate action in the US states of Texas and New York and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Québec, explaining why some regulators ban cryptocurrency mining while others do not. Although some fossil fuel–abundant energy jurisdictions position mining as just another industrial consumer, jurisdictions with credible climate commitments have restrained the industry, situating mining as a threat to green industrial expansion. Cryptocurrency miners have responded by promoting digital production as a path to future energy security, a strategy we anticipate will be replicated by other digital industries.