These factors (crypto's need for resources, the state’s preemptive stance against regulation, and potentially outmatched rural governments) are colliding in Muskogee, where Polaris, the state’s largest bitcoin miner, is suing the city. Read here: thepickup.com/data-centers...

This adds burden to counties and municipalities, who are left to their own devices when it comes to dealing with data centers already, especially when it comes to important issues of water and electricity usage.

But most importantly — and this is the part that’s largely escaped notice — the new legislation prevents local governments, statewide, from imposing any requirements on digital asset mining operations that do not also apply to traditional data centers within their jurisdiction.

Upon closer scrutiny of the text of the new law, it copies its definitions nearly word for word from the pre-written model policy of the Satoshi Action Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to bitcoin advocacy. Here's a selection of the model policy:

It also grants mining businesses the legal right to appeal zoning changes in court, requiring judges to reject any local rules or amendments that discriminate against mining operations.

In 2024, Oklahoma legislators quietly passed House Bill 3594, which bars restrictions on self-custody of digital assets, ensuring crypto/bitcoin miners have full control over their holdings without third-party interference or regulation. (thread)