British Columbia To Stop New Crypto Miner Energy Connections

Canada’s British Columbia will cease accepting new connection requests from new crypto mining initiatives to its clear and renewable vitality infrastructure.

An Oct. 20 assertion, the province mentioned there will likely be a “everlasting ban on new BC Hydro connections to the electrical energy grid” for crypto miners that may come into impact later this yr.

That follows an 18-month ban that was rolled out again in December 2022. This was executed in order that the federal government may take the time to develop a everlasting framework that balances the wants of crypto miners, residents and companies within the area.

Within the announcement, the British Columbia authorities additionally mentioned that the crypto mining sector’s “disproportionate vitality consumption” affords “restricted financial profit.”

That’s as pending crypto initiatives would have demanded greater than 11,700 gigawatt-hours of energy annually, which is sufficient electrical energy to produce lots of of 1000’s of houses throughout British Columbia.

Crypto mining machines are recognized for his or her excessive vitality use. 

2013 was an unimaginable yr for bitcoin mining because of the introduction of the ASIC.

Hashrate went from 22 TH/s to 10,000 TH/s.

A rise of 45,400% in simply 12 months.

The equal bounce at this time would see hashrate bounce from 1 ZH/s to 455 ZH/s (slightly below half a Yottahash). pic.twitter.com/7ioYaPKftR

— Tomas Greif (@TomasGreif) October 1, 2025

Vitality Provide To AI And Information Facilities Will Be Capped

Within the announcement, the federal government acknowledged the potential financial features that would come from AI and knowledge facilities.

It mentioned “knowledge facilities and AI can provide large potential for innovation, data expertise and knowledge sovereignty.” It added that AI adoption will “proceed to enhance productiveness and competitiveness” for British Columbia industries. 

Whereas the federal government sees the potential financial advantages of AI and knowledge facilities, it mentioned the “fast enlargement and excessive vitality consumption” of those rising sectors will “require balanced, ahead looking-planning. 

Along with the excessive vitality calls for, initiatives in these sectors “typically present fewer jobs and revenues for the province” than natural-resource initiatives, the federal government mentioned.

To handle the expansion of the AI and knowledge middle sectors, the British Columbia authorities mentioned that it’s going to launch a “aggressive name for initiatives” in early 2026 for a two-year interval.

Throughout this era, BC Hydro will present firms in these sectors with 300 megawatts for AI and 100 megawatts for knowledge facilities. 

IREN Shares Slide 2% On Information Of Upcoming Laws

One of many crypto miners that the brand new laws may impression is IREN, which has a number of websites in British Columbia. In accordance with the corporate’s web site, the agency has three foremost websites, specifically Mackenzie, Prince George, and Canal Flats. Mixed, these websites use 160 megawatts of vitality within the area.

Not too long ago, the corporate additionally pivoted to AI and HPC. In September, the corporate introduced that it had doubled its AI-cloud capability to round 23,000 GPUS by means of the acquisition of roughly 7,100 Nvidia B300s, 4,200 Nvidia B200s, and round 1,100 AMD MI350Xs for its Prince George knowledge middle. 

Following the information of the upcoming laws, IREN shares dropped over 2%, in accordance with knowledge from Google Finance. 

IREN share worth (Supply: Google Finance)

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