Allentown, PA Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Crypto Mining Rules (2026)

Allentown does not treat cryptocurrency mining, blockchain transaction processing, or server farms as their own zoning use. H(1) folds them squarely into the citywide "data center" use category alongside conventional data centers, defining the category broadly as any building or structure occupied primarily by computers or telecommunications equipment that processes, transfers, or stores digital information to and from offsite locations. Because the ordinance explicitly lists cryptocurrency mining and blockchain processing inside that definition, a mining operation cannot claim a lighter classification, such as light industrial or warehousing, to avoid the data center rules; it is regulated exactly like a conventional cloud data center.

The category excludes computer equipment that is merely incidental to another permitted use, such as an office building's own servers, so a small in-house mining rig tucked into an otherwise unrelated business would not automatically trigger data center review, but a dedicated mining facility would. The same definition covers both principal data center uses and "data center accessory uses," a separate concept cross-referenced to § 660-135, meaning a mining operation added onto another industrial use on the same lot is captured too. H(2), covering setbacks, lot area, landscaped buffers, and mandatory noise, vibration, water, and power studies, before the City will issue zoning approval.

There is no moratorium or outright ban on cryptocurrency mining in the current ordinance; the City instead routes it through the same intensive review as any data center use.