{"id":21986,"date":"2018-06-08T00:08:49","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T00:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027cfe78e0072697"},"modified":"2018-06-08T00:08:49","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T00:08:49","slug":"cryptomining-applications-suspended-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/cryptomining-applications-suspended-quebec","title":{"rendered":"Cryptomining Applications Suspended in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Canada\u2019s Quebec province has announced that it will be suspending all approvals<\/a> for new digital currency-mining projects so officials can consider deeper restrictions and potential energy price hikes.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-mining operations in Canada are largely powered by Hydro Quebec. Representatives of the company are asking that the total amount of energy made available to digital currency miners be limited to 500 megawatts. While this is enough energy to run a \u201csingle aluminum smelting plant,\u201d it\u2019s a small portion of the 17,000 megawatts miners in Quebec originally asked for.<\/p>\n

The enterprise is also asking for respective price increases on all energy consumed by cryptocurrency miners. This is to guarantee that Hydro Quebec maximizes its annual revenue while being able to maintain present power rates for residents and standard businesses.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, Hydro Quebec Distribution President Eric Filion explained, \u201cWe are asking the province\u2019s energy board to quickly determine how much it should charge digital currency miners, and how much energy should be allocated to the industry while addressing the need to maximize revenues and job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since early January, Canada has been a serious hotspot for cryptocurrency<\/a> mining projects from China, South Korea and neighboring regions looking to take advantage<\/a> of the country\u2019s low energy prices and stable government. According to spokesman Marc-Antoine Pouliot, many of these miners are rewarded with the energy they need to mine digital currencies in exchange for investing in Hydro Quebec\u2019s transmission network, thus boosting the company\u2019s reputation and position in Canada\u2019s power sector.<\/p>\n

But problems are forming on the horizon. Hydro Quebec now says it doesn\u2019t have the energy sources it needs to power every project that comes its way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t be able to power all the projects that we\u2019re receiving,\u201d Pouliot explains. \u201cThis is evolving very rapidly, so we have to be prudent.\u201d<\/p>\n

While turning away potential business is a hard decision, Pouliot says Quebec\u2019s energy ministry needs time to examine the situation and set new roles for the industry before things get out of hand. Minister Pierre Moreau states that the province now aims to establish new guidelines that<\/a> will bring in the \u201cbest among the companies\u201d and push Canada to the head of the cryptomarketing arena.<\/p>\n

The decision to halt new approvals arrives just one week after Quebec<\/a> lifted a moratorium that banned energy companies from supplying electricity to cryptocurrency-mining projects. The ban was first implemented in March, though Canada later expressed concern over \u201cmissing the boat\u201d on crypto and decided it would work with mining companies if they could set different energy prices for miners and cut off electricity to their operations once the power grid was stretched to the maximum capacity.<\/p>\n

Pouliot stated, \u201cHaving interruptible customers during these critical periods makes it possible to connect more. [Hydro Quebec\u2019s mandate] is to ensure the implementation of cryptocurrencies in Quebec by maximizing economic benefits and ensuring the stability of our electricity supply.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Representatives of Hydro Quebec are asking that the total amount of energy made available to digital currency miners be limited to 500 megawatts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3479,"featured_media":21987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1528,298,3194,97,1790],"class_list":{"0":"post-21986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-cryptocurrency","10":"tag-francis-pouliot","11":"tag-mining","12":"tag-quebec"},"author_data":{"id":3479,"name":"Nick Marinoff","nicename":"nick-marinoff","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cropped-bitcoin-schmitcoin-promo-image-1-2-96x96.png"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/cryptomining-applications-suspended-in-quebec.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}