Canada Province Shuts Door on New Crypto Mining Ventures — Here’s Why

Canadian province British Columbia has moved to ban new cryptocurrency mining projects, tightening control over how its clean electricity is used and ensuring the province’s vast hydroelectric power benefits higher-value ￰0￱ province’s energy ministry said on Monday that BC Hydro, a government-owned utility, will no longer accept new grid connection requests for crypto ￰1￱ move comes after a two-year moratorium introduced in 2022, which officials say will now become a long-term policy aimed at protecting energy supplies and avoiding grid ￰2￱ Aims To Protect Electricity Supply For Job-Intensive And Revenue-Generating Projects BC, a global exporter of natural resources such as lumber, minerals and hydropower, plans to redirect available electricity toward industries that create more jobs and revenue for local ￰3￱ grid connections will be prioritized for sectors like natural gas processing, hydrogen production and ￰4￱ to Bloomberg, the Canadian province of British Columbia plans to limit power use by AI data centers and permanently ban new crypto mining ￰5￱ province’s Energy Ministry said it will prioritize grid access for mining and natural gas industries to create more… — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 21, 2025 The government said cryptocurrency mining consumes a large amount of energy.

However, it provides little economic benefit to the ￰6￱ believe that redirecting electricity to industries with higher employment and investment potential will create greater public ￰7￱ comparison, pending crypto projects would have demanded more than 11,700 gigawatt-hours of power each ￰8￱ is enough electricity to supply hundreds of thousands of homes across British ￰9￱ Targets Balanced Grid Expansion Linking Energy Supply To Job Creation The permanent restriction is part of a broader set of energy policy reforms planned for late ￰10￱ reforms will determine how industrial electricity is distributed across the ￰11￱ will also set rules for fast-growing, high-consumption sectors such as data centers and artificial ￰12￱ early 2026, BC Hydro will begin a competitive bidding process to allocate 400 megawatts of ￰13￱ this, 300 megawatts will go to AI projects and 100 to general data ￰14￱ process will run over two years.

Meanwhile, traditional sectors such as mining, oil and gas, forestry and manufacturing will continue to have unrestricted access to industrial power, the ministry ￰15￱ 2026, construction on new transmission lines is expected to ￰16￱ expansion will continue through 2034 to strengthen BC’s grid and meet rising industrial ￰17￱ said this long-term approach will help link power development with the province’s goals of job creation and economic diversification. BC’s Move Reflects Global Shift Toward Powering AI Over Energy-Hungry Crypto Mining The moratorium introduced in 2022 followed a sharp rise in crypto mining activity across British ￰18￱ companies were drawn to the province by its low-cost and renewable hydroelectric ￰19￱ after, BC joined other provinces such as Manitoba and Quebec in restricting crypto-related electricity ￰20￱ decision came amid growing environmental concerns and the instability of digital asset ￰21￱ the time, policymakers warned that crypto mining consumed vast amounts of ￰22￱ feared it could divert clean power away from households, hospitals and critical industries.

Moreover, they questioned whether the largely automated mining operations brought any real employment or economic value to local ￰23￱ then, the government’s priorities have ￰24￱ now see greater long-term benefits in supporting AI and industrial projects that rely on stable electricity and generate stronger tax and job ￰25￱ say the move aligns with BC’s broader climate objectives and its transition toward a more resilient economy.