New York just told Big Tech and crypto miners to cool it. Literally.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on July 14 instituting a one-year moratorium on new large “hyperscaler” data centers that require a peak energy demand of 50 megawatts or more. That’s enough power to run roughly 40,000 homes, now frozen from receiving state permits, certificates, or approvals while officials figure out what all this computing is doing to the grid, local water supplies, and air quality.
The move makes New York the most prominent state to formally slam the brakes on data center expansion, but it won’t be alone for long. At least 14 states are actively considering or implementing similar measures in 2026, creating what looks like a nationwide reckoning with the energy appetite of AI and cryptocurrency mining infrastructure.
What the moratorium actually covers
The executive order specifically targets new facilities at the hyperscaler level, meaning the massive campuses operated by the likes of Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, and increasingly, Bitcoin mining operations that have scaled to industrial proportions.
