by Grey Abbott, Governor of Texas has recently asked home-based Bitcoin miners to assist the State get past winter by putting off their machines.
Reports have it that Abbott made this plea in the course of a meeting in October last year, with representatives from the Texas’ expanding Bitcoin mining community.
Abbott had told them to shut down in cases of failure of the power grid under overwhelming conditions. A struggling grid alongside a cold snap left several millions without power supply for some days as at last February, and about a few hundred lost their lives.
Bloomberg has it that about two Bitcoin mining outlets in Texas have complied and have made agreements to power off if the need arises, as there has not been much done to upgrade the State’s grid . From the time of that meeting, Texas has tickled the fancy of displaced Bitcoin mining operations all the way from China.
Riot Blockchain as well as Bitmain put up shops in Texas as of late 2021. Abbott, who is to undergo re-election by this year, had given a hint to Texans that a stream of Bitcoin miners could propel energy industries to set up additional power plants in Texas.
Insiders in the crypto industry have reportedly suggested the idea to the governor for years. Following through, Abbott made a tweet as at June last year to announce that Texas was officially open for crypto transactions, just after Beijing had intensified all efforts to stop crypto mining.
Texas, the Lone Star State, even supported attempts at becoming a Bitcoin space with crypto friendly legislation that makes it easier for businesses and industries to operate digital assets.
Bitcoin Miners Encountered Rejection Outside Texas
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) discovered that mining Bitcoin presently consumes about 500 to 1000 megawatts(MW) of power around the state. ERCOT has stated that the numbers could surge up by as much as about five times as at 2023. Polls show that over half of the Texan responders don’t approve of the state in which the current grid is utilized.
The power grid of Texas has been unregulated for close to two decades now, out of worry, State officials in Texas have left the choice to putting off Bitcoin miners in times of high demand totally to the miners themselves. Bitcoin miners are not under any commitment to put out power usage.
A local power consultant has said to reporters that the people have to ensure that when Texas is approaching scarcity, people shouldn’t mine bitcoins any longer. However governments within Kosovo, Iceland and Kazakhstan have implemented a strict approach to handling their energy shortages either by cutting off electricity or rejecting Bitcoin miners.
