British Columbia just told the tech sector to take a number — and it's not coming up anytime soon.

The province is banning all new cryptocurrency mining projects and imposing strict power consumption limits on AI operations to free up grid capacity for existing mines and natural gas projects. The crypto ban took effect October 20, 2025, while AI power allocation will launch through a competitive process in early 2026.

The move puts BC at odds with jurisdictions like Texas and Wyoming that are actively courting crypto miners and AI companies with cheap power deals. Current crypto mining operations in BC consume roughly 273 megawatts — enough to power about 110,000 homes — while AI data centres are projected to increase their power demand by 50-165% by 2030.

For Vancouver's tech ecosystem, this isn't just an energy story. It's an economic competitiveness story. AI companies requiring significant compute power will face allocation caps, while crypto businesses looking to scale operations must look elsewhere. That's a direct hit to two sectors driving venture investment and job growth across Metro Vancouver.

The policy includes a grandfathering provision for existing operations, but new AI projects will compete for 400 megawatts of combined power allocation every two years through a competitive bidding process that evaluates economic impact, job creation, and strategic value to the province.

Traditional resource companies, meanwhile, get priority queue status. Mining operations and natural gas projects will receive expedited grid connections under the new framework, reflecting the government's bet that commodity extraction remains more economically valuable than digital innovation.

The timing is particularly sharp given Vancouver's push to position itself as an AI hub. Local companies that were planning data centre expansions or compute-intensive operations now face a ceiling on their growth ambitions. Crypto mining operations that survived the 2022 market crash and were eyeing expansion will need to look to Alberta or Saskatchewan instead.

This policy shift reflects a fundamental choice about BC's economic future: established resource industries over emerging tech sectors. Whether that proves prescient or short-sighted will depend largely on how those traditional industries perform — and how much tech investment migrates to more power-friendly jurisdictions.

For now, BC is betting that copper mines and gas wells create more lasting value than crypto farms and AI clusters. The tech sector's response will likely be measured in relocation announcements rather than press releases.