U.S. Senate bill threatens encryption, AI data centers with fees – Report

According to a Bloomberg report on April 11, U.S. Senate legislation could hit data centers serving blockchain networks and artificial intelligence models, with fees if they exceed federal emission targets.

Bloomberg said the draft bill, led by Senate Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse and John Fetterman, aims to address the environmental impact of rising energy demand and protect families from the superior energy bill.

The legislation, known as the Clean Cloud Act, requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set emission performance standards for data centers and encrypted mining facilities and has over 100 kW of installed IT nameplate power.

The standard will be based on regional grid emission intensity with an annual reduction target of 11%. The legislation also includes penalties for emissions exceeding the set standard, starting at a price of 1 ton of carbon dioxide, adding a penalty of $10 per year at inflation.

A minority blog post on the U.S. Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee website notes: “Electric demand for crypto and data centers exceeds the growth of carbon-free electricity, adding that the use of data centers is expected to account for 12% of total U.S. electricity demand.

According to research by Morgan Stanley, rapid growth in data centers is expected to generate around 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide by the end of the decade.

For Vaneck’s research leader Matthew Sigel, the proposed legislation effectively attempts to pick out Bitcoin (BTC) miners and similar operations to the energy consumption of “losing the ‘blame server rack’ strategy’.

Additionally, the law could clash with President Donald Trump’s U.S. policy, which canceled former President Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order to set AI security standards. Trump had previously announced his intention to make the United States the “world capital” of AI and cryptocurrencies.

Related: Trade tensions accelerate institutional encryption adoption – Executives

Bitcoin and AI convergence

Vaneck said the Senate draft law has not been passed because Bitcoin miners, including Galaxy, Corescientific and Terawulf, are increasingly promoting the supply of high-performance computing (HPC) power to AI models.

Bitcoin miners have been struggling in 2025 as pressure on lower cryptocurrency prices has been on the business model that has been affected by the recent halving of the Bitcoin network.

Coin Metrics said miners are “diversifying hosting in AI data centers to expand revenue and repurpose existing infrastructure for high-performance computing.”

According to data from coin indicators, miners’ income began to stabilize in the first quarter of 2025. However, several cryptocurrency executives told Cointelegraph that a recovery could be shortened if the ongoing trade war undermines miners’ business model.

“Active tariffs and retaliatory trade policies could create barriers to blockchain networks for node operators, validators and other core players,” said Nicholas Roberts-Huntley, CEO of Concrete & Glow Finance.

“In a time of global uncertainty, the infrastructure that supports cryptocurrencies, not only the assets themselves, will become collateral damage.”

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