A bill that bans discriminatory electricity rates and specifies that cryptocurrency used as payment won’t be subject to additional taxes was enacted by the Montana State Senate to shield cryptocurrency miners from any regulatory action. The bill has received a 37-13 vote in the Senate and will now head to the state House for ratification. Local governments are stripped of their authority, making it impossible for them to take action against at-home mining or to use zoning regulations to proactively halt ongoing operations. That might invalidate a 2020 Missoula County zoning regulation requiring all bitcoin miners to acquire or construct sustainable energy resources. Environmentalists and American lawmakers have criticised bitcoin miners for their possible effects on power infrastructure and carbon neutrality aspirations. The bill’s wording was drafted with assistance from Satoshi Action Fund.
The NBA-branded Top Shot Moments NFTs sold by Dapper Labs are securities, according to a federal judge in New York, and their sale without first registering with the SEC is against federal securities laws. The decision was made using the four prongs of the Howey test, which employed the Weey test to decide whether or not specific transactions qualify as “investment contracts” or “where the rewards expected from an investment must be generated from the labour of others.” A thorough evaluation of the case, including the plaintiffs’ allegations, was delivered by Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York.
Due to a problem with Coinbase’s wallets that miscalculated the amount of gas required to perform customers’ transactions, Base, the new layer 2 blockchain from Coinbase, has drawn criticism and trolls from users on Twitter. A transaction list from Etherscan, in which transactions appear to have been reversed, contained mistakes, and Coinbase’s bridge contract was unconfirmed. Bridge contracts increase gas consumption when they are under load, and Coinbase software developer Roberto Bayardo says a rapid influx of users may have been the cause of problems on the testnet’s debut day. With a modification to the website, Coinbase reduced a commitment to donate 20% of their revenue to public causes. The website now states that Base will make an unknown contribution to that revenue number.
