Arkansasans oppose Act 851, the cryptomining bill, during the 2024 Fiscal Session

Little Rock, Arkansas – Today’s Arkansas 2024 fiscal session saw several concerned residents at the Capitol voice their opinions to politicians on cryptomining.

This year’s session has placed a spotlight on the topic that is becoming more and more contentious.

Legislators generally believe that the issue of cryptomining should be handled before the 2025 regular season, even though bills outside of the budget aren’t often discussed during the fiscal session.

Members of at least three communities affected by cryptomines came to the capital today to urge lawmakers to abolish Act 851, a contentious law that restricts the extent to which local governments can control this emerging industry, and to better regulate the cryptomine sector.

Today, representatives from Pope, Arkansas, and Faulkner counties visited the Capitol to urge lawmakers to repeal Act 851 and improve regulations on cryptocurrency mining.

“We don’t want it in our county, we don’t want it in our state, we don’t want it in our country. We’re all working towards the same thing– it’s to get rid of it.”

“But my goal is to get the politicians attention that the citizens that don’t want it is not going to go away, and we do vote for them,” says James Ward, concerned citizen from Arkansas County.

Perhaps in spite of that contentious rule, Arkansas County passed a noise ordinance that eventually resulted in a new cryptomine within the county’s borders suing the county.
People on a mission from that specific community gathered at the capitol today.

“To be able to talk to legislators and tell them our concerns. There have been many bills and resolutions introduced, and we are very hopeful that they all will be heard because there are merits to all of them. So that we can find some sort of ways to address these issues with cryptomines and help to educate legislators about how taking local control away can affect a community when their hands are tied and they aren’t able to address this,” says Tami Hornbeck, chair of committee for Protect Arkansas.

As of right now, the eight resolutions pertaining to cryptomining have been approved by the Senate, putting them one step closer to being formally introduced.