Greenidge stock jumps 30% after New York settles air-permit battle over crypto mining operation

Nasdaq-listed Greenidge Generation Holdings (ticker GREE) shares jumped more than 30% at Monday’s open, according to The Block's price page, after the company announced an agreement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, securing renewal of its air-emissions permit for its Dresden, N.Y., facility.

The new five-year permit, finalized Friday, allows Greenidge to keep running its combined power-generation and cryptocurrency-mining site while committing to emissions cuts that surpass the state’s 2030 climate-reduction goals. It also ends all outstanding litigation between the firm and the state stemming from a 2022 permit denial.

Under the settlement, Greenidge must reduce its permitted greenhouse gas output by 44% from prior limits and its actual emissions by 25% by the end of the decade. Regulators said the conditions bring the facility fully into line with the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

“This new permit includes historic emissions reductions that go far beyond anything required by the CLCPA,” Greenidge president Dale Irwin said, calling it validation of the company’s “model cryptocurrency operation,” which can quickly divert power to the grid during peak-demand periods.

The decision marks a turnaround from 2022, when state officials delayed renewal amid criticism from environmental groups. At the time, Greenidge argued it was already compliant with state law and that opponents were “misleading the public.”

The Dresden facility supplies power directly to the upstate grid while running a behind-the-meter data center for bitcoin mining.

It mirrors a wider trend of utilities experimenting with mining as a grid-balancing tool. In Japan, Canaan recently partnered with a regional power company on a government-linked project using bitcoin mining to smooth electricity demand.