Norway has recently announced its intention of enacting a data center-focused law, which seeks to exert more control over the operations performed at these locations. One of the objectives behind this move would be to crack down on data centers hosting cryptocurrency mining operations, as it is an unwanted business in the country.
Norway to Enact Data Center Law to Filter out Cryptocurrency Operations
The government of Norway will enact a data center law targeting cryptocurrency mining operations, that are “unwanted in the country.” Digitalization Minister Karianne Tung explained that the government will put forward a law to require registration and other data from data center users in the country. The law will force operators to disclose who is managing and which services are offered at each data center in Norway.
However, the true purpose of this new law project would be to maintain certain activities out of the country, including cryptocurrency mining.
About crypto mining, Energy Minister Terje Aasland stated:
It is associated with large greenhouse gas emissions, and is an example of a type of business we do not want in Norway.
Aasland explained that several cryptocurrency mining operators have settled in the country’s north due to the cheap energy fees. However, he detailed that Norway was not interested in hosting these cheap energy-seeking actors. “They are not welcome in Norway. We want serious actors who are important to society, and the society-serving computer industry is important to us,” he stressed.
Nonetheless, Norway still needs the data center industry, but a more controlled one. This is the opinion of Tung, who believes the government should establish intensive controls on the data center industry. “We have to be tougher on who we want and who we don’t want,” she declared.
Norway has tried to address the cryptocurrency mining situation in the country before. The country mulled supporting cryptocurrency mining ban regulations in 2021 and attempted to reverse the power tax cuts data centers (including crypto mining operations) receive.