Bitcoin miners went to an upstate New York village searching for inexpensive electricity, but things quickly became messy.

Mining for bitcoin is a time-consuming and powerful technique that creates new bitcoins by miners solving computational problems on high-powered computers to validate transactions across the blockchain network. 

Some officials, such as Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, have taken a stand have been pushing to recruit bitcoin miners to their cities or states, especially since China recently attempted to restrict miners' activities in the nation. 

When bitcoin miners arrived at Plattsburgh, a little city of around 19,000 people in upstate New York, a few years ago for its cheap electricity provided by the Niagara River, it didn't take long for the general public to notice a significant surge in power costs.

After the crypto miners depleted the energy limit, which Read stated was 1.9 cents per kilowatt at an hour industrial rate, "constituents were in an incredible uproar due to the substantially higher electricity expenses they incurred," he claimed. According to Read, when Plattsburgh meets the quota, they must pay the difference.

After people complained about their bills, the city put a moratorium on new commercial bitcoin mining facilities in 2018. The city abolished and replaced the restriction the following year.

"We only have a set quantity of electricity to go around," Read told CNBC." If you start diverting 10%, 15% of your supply to bitcoin, it very rapidly raises rates everywhere for everyone and puts much strain on the grid as well." 

Read is a supporter of cryptocurrencies, referring to them as "the wave of the future." Simultaneously, he stated that he believes other cities may learn from Plattsburgh's experience with an inflow of bitcoin miners, emphasizing a sustainability policy that involves recycling some of the heat generated by the mining process for other purposes.

"So, maybe they can avoid some of the challenges that we had to figure out for ourselves with smart preparation," Read remarked. The city's policies have significantly reduced interest from new corporations in establishing mining operations in Plattsburgh. 

"Previously, we had many applications every single week attempting to beat down our door to get in," he explained. 

With China's latest cryptocurrency limitations, bitcoin mining may become simpler and more profitable in other countries. Crypto experts recently told CNBC that when more bitcoin miners go down due to the crackdown, other miners' portion of the bitcoin network will grow, potentially making mining even more profitable.

"We will see governments and central banks get into it, without a doubt, it must carry out appropriately.," Read said of cryptocurrency adoption. "It's not a question of whether we should do it; it's a question of how well we should do it, and we're just not doing it very well yet."