Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency have officially arrived in Lawton.
The City Council voted to amend an ordinance to include definitions of blockchain, digital asset, digital asset mining, home digital asset mining and nodes. Those definitions were copied verbatim from House Bill 3594, which the Legislature passed in May and Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law in June, effective Nov. 1 this year.
The new law decrees that state and local governments “shall not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise impair the ability of an individual to “use digital assets to purchase legal goods or services” nor “self-custody digital assets using a self-hosted wallet or a hardware wallet.”
Additionally, payment with digital assets “may not be subject to any additional tax, withholding, assessment, or charge” by the state or local government “that is based solely on use of the digital asset as the method of payment.”
The state or a local government may impose or collect a tax, withholding, assessment, or charge “that would otherwise be offered” if the transaction had taken place with United States legal tender.
The new statute also stipulates that operating a node or series of nodes on a blockchain protocol “shall not require an individual or business to obtain a money transmitter license…” The City Council also approved a companion ordinance that allows home digital asset mining, provided it consumes no more than one megawatt of energy for the purpose of securing a blockchain protocol, as a residential occupation.
One megawatt is equivalent to one million watts of electricity – enough to power roughly between 400 and 900 homes, depending on the average energy consumption of the region and the type of residence.
Home digital asset mining operations must comply with all local noise ordinances and codes adopted by the City of Lawton.
HB 3594 decrees that home digital asset mining in Oklahoma is legal so long as the individual operates in an area that is zoned for industrial use. In Lawton, digital asset mining businesses will be permitted in an Industrial 1 (I-1) restricted manufacturing and warehouse district, as recommended by the City Planning Commission.
Home digital asset mining operations in Lawton will be subject to an annual inspection by the Fire Marshal’s office. City Attorney John Andrew said this provision is needed because the process used to mine bitcoin consumes a lot of energy and can pose a fire risk.
Councilman George Gill added an amendment to the ordinance which provides, “Use is subject to written clearance from the local electrical provider [in Lawton, that is Public Service Co. of Oklahoma] that there is significant infrastructure in place to safely support the use at their specific location, with sufficient reserves for future development of adjacent properties.”
“We’ve already had one inquiry” about home digital asset mining, Planning Director Christine James said.
Mining cryptocurrencies like bitcoin consumes large amounts of electricity owing to the way the system was set up. To acquire bitcoin (and other currencies that rely on a similar scheme), miners compete to answer cryptographic riddles and solve advanced mathematical equations. Winning the competition takes a lot of computing power. As a result, server farms devoted to crypto mining are electricity hogs.