A new Senate bill proposes imposing climate-related penalties on both cryptocurrency mining operations and AI data center infrastructure.

A new U.S. Senate proposal could pose significant challenges for cryptocurrency miners and artificial intelligence data centers. The Clean Cloud Act, introduced by Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman, seeks to impose emissions limits and financial penalties on data centers that power blockchain networks and AI models exceeding federally established environmental benchmarks, according to an April 11 Bloomberg report.

Although the legislation has not yet advanced, it arrives as Bitcoin mining firms increasingly pivot toward AI infrastructure. Leveraging high-performance computing (HPC) setups to offset declining crypto revenues, major operators such as Galaxy, CoreScientific, and Terawulf are already integrating AI services into their core operations.

Under the proposed framework, the Environmental Protection Agency would establish regionally based emissions performance standards for facilities with more than 100 kilowatts of installed IT capacity. These standards would mandate an 11% annual reduction in emissions. Facilities exceeding these thresholds would face penalties starting at $20 per metric ton of CO2e, with annual adjustments tied to inflation plus an additional $10 per ton. Proponents aim to curb the escalating power demand from data-intensive industries and shield American households from surging energy costs.

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works estimates that data centers could consume up to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028. Separately, Morgan Stanley projects these facilities will generate approximately 2.5 billion metric tons of global CO2 emissions by 2030. Critics, however, argue the bill unfairly targets crypto mining. Matthew Sigel, head of research at VanEck, dismissed the proposal as a “Losing ‘Blame the Server Racks’ Strategy,” characterizing it as an oversimplified effort to attribute broader energy market pressures to a single sector.

The proposal also risks conflicting with former President Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda, which included repealing a 2023 Biden executive order on AI safety. Trump has consistently championed positioning the United States as the global hub for both artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, crypto markets continue to navigate headwinds compounded by Bitcoin’s 2024 halving and prolonged price stagnation throughout 2025. As miners repurpose existing infrastructure for AI applications, Coin Metrics reports that industry revenue began stabilizing in early 2025, largely driven by this strategic diversification.

That recovery remains precarious, however. Industry leaders warn that ongoing trade tensions and aggressive tariff policies could further disrupt operations. While the Clean Cloud Act currently exists only in draft form, its eventual passage would represent a substantial regulatory turning point for two of the digital economy’s most energy-intensive sectors.