Today in Crypto: NY Bill Restricting Mining Goes to Governor; Crypto SPACs Cool Off

A new bill passed in New York Thursday (June 2) has reportedly put a moratorium on certain kinds of cryptocurrency mining operations.

It would make sure that any operations with proof-of-work authentication methods have to be subject to an environmental review, citing the dangers of climate change. According to the New York State Senate website, the bill has not yet been signed by the governor.

In other news, Binance Labs head Bill Qian is leaving the organization, CoinDesk reported Friday (June 3).

A company spokesperson said he was leaving for “personal reasons.” Last month, Nichole Zhang, the executive director of Binance Labs, also left the firm, which operates as the venture capital arm of Binance.

Earlier this week, Binance Labs said it had raised a $500 million fund to invest in web3 and blockchain firms.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Bermuda thinks its transparency for digital asset regulation could be a boon for the country and help encourage more crypto projects to come there.

Bermuda has been known in the past for its offshore insurance and reinsurance industry. Jason Hayward, Bermuda’s minister of economy and labor, said the drop in value of crypto wouldn’t threaten the island’s possibilities of being a crypto hub.

Furthermore, MSN reported that bitcoin rose in Friday trading, though though things are still fragile and there could be another fall in the coin’s future.

The leading cryptocurrency was up 1.6% and had hit $30,447 as of 4:45 a.m. ET June 3. That came as stock markets in Europe and the U.S. also experienced a rise on Thursday.

Additionally, crypto special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have seen a cooling-off of interest, with a market downturn and new regulations on the horizon, according to a Saturday (June 4) CoinDesk report.

From now on, if parties involved want to go forward, they’ll have to reprice the deals to reflect the current market comps. This comes because the SPACs have been “very volatile and on a downward trajectory,” according to Peter Stoneberg, managing director at M&A firm Architect Partners.

In further crypto news, bitcoin miners are selling tokens they hoarded to deal with rising costs as the industry growth seems to be slowing, Bloomberg wrote Sunday (June 5).

Miners have transferred around 195,663 coins to exchanges in May, which was the largest monthly increase since January, per data from Coin Metrics compiled by Compass Mining.

Finally, TheBlockCrypto reported Sunday that MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said the near-term volatility for bitcoin isn’t relevant if one looks at the way the cryptocurrency works.

“Bitcoin is the most certain thing in a very uncertain world, it’s more certain than the other 19,000 cryptocurrencies, it’s more certain than any stock, it’s more certain than owning property anywhere in the world,” Saylor said, per the report.