The city of Fort Worth, Texas, will mine Bitcoin using three ASICs donated by the Texas Blockchain Council.
Texas Blockchain Council donates three ASICs for Bitcoin mining
The decision was approved by a special vote on a city council resolution aimed at encouraging the growth of blockchain and crypto companies in Fort Worth. Approval of the resolution also authorizes the city to mine Bitcoin.
The decision comes at the same time as the approval of a new draft of a New York State bill that wants to ban Proof-of-Work-based cryptocurrency mining in the state altogether.
The bill has been approved by the State Senate. It will now have to go to the Assembly for approval.
The United States of America is a federal nation, so each state can make similar decisions on its own. In Texas, they have decided to allow Bitcoin mining on an institutional level, while in New York they have decided to prohibit both citizens and companies from doing so.
The Fort Worth project
The resolution of the city of Fort Worth, which was passed unanimously, says that the City Council has declared the city crypto-friendly, defining it as:
“Welcoming to the Industry and to those responsible businesses contributing to the development of this evolving technology”.
It also specifies that it will directly be the city staff who will perform all the necessary actions to mine Bitcoin, as a pilot project lasting about six months.
The facility where these operations will be carried out is a climate-controlled data centre located at the city’s city hall.
Mayor Mattie Parker, stated:
“With blockchain technology and cryptocurrency revolutionizing the financial landscape, we want to transform Fort Worth into a tech-friendly city. Today, with the support and partnership of Texas Blockchain Council, we’re stepping into that world on a small scale while sending a big message—Fort Worth is where the future begins”.
On the one hand, Bitcoin mining offers income opportunities for those with cheap electricity, like in Texas, while on the other hand consuming a lot of electricity can have a negative impact on the environment if it is not produced from non-polluting sources.
New York State does not have sufficient domestic resources to produce cheap electricity, and is probably not able to prevent polluting sources from being used to power Bitcoin mining machines.
Texas has large amounts of resources with which to produce cheap electricity, and is probably not particularly concerned about environmental impact.
Mining in the US
The US now accounts for most of the global hashrate for Bitcoin mining, so New York State’s decision seems to be more of an exception rather than the rule.
Many US crypto mining companies are thriving, so much so that one of them, Cleanspark, has just secured $35 million in funding from Trinity Capital.
Cleanspark is based in Texas, and Trinity Capital is a Nasdaq-listed company with the ticker TRIN.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/04/27/city-texas-will-mine-bitcoin/