Norway Wants to Restrict Crypto Mining by Regulating Data Centers, Lawmakers Say: Report

A new law proposed by the Norwegian government aims to regulate data centers, with one objective being to limit cryptocurrency mining due to its high energy consumption, as per reports from local newspaper VG, shared by two unnamed legislators.

For the initial time, Data-Center Minister Karianne Tung and Energy Minister Terje Aasland announced that a new law would oversee the data-center sector. This means that data-center operators are now required to register with local regulatory bodies as stated in the report.

“Tung reportedly stated that the objective is to control the industry and prevent undesired projects from moving forward.”

According to the publication, there is consensus among lawmakers that they prefer to prohibit cryptocurrency mining in the country.

Aasland expressed his opposition to businesses with significant greenhouse-gas emissions, commenting, “Such enterprises are linked to high carbon outputs and are not desirable in Norway.”

Crypto miners prefer establishing operations in nations like Norway and Sweden due to their rich supply of eco-friendly energy from sources like hydroelectricity.

A few years ago, Sweden, a European Union member, sought to prohibit cryptocurrency mining due to energy concerns, with Norway expressing support. This initiative sparked attempts by certain EU lawmaker groups to include a provision in the MiCA regulation, limiting Bitcoin‘s energy-consuming proof-of-work consensus mechanism within the EU. However, these efforts proved unsuccessful.

Sweden increased taxes for data centers last year, also in a bid to squeeze out crypto miners.

In this sector, there have been no regulations whatsoever. Yet, the question remains: can we effectively oversee and manage data centers? (Reportedly stated by Tung)