Fort Worth, Texas has become the first city government in all the United States to mine bitcoin. The city is employing three Antminer S9 rigs that will run all day, every day in a technology wing of the region’s city hall.
Fort Worth, Texas Is at the Heart of BTC Mining
Per city estimates, each rig will require about as much energy as a standard vacuum cleaner. Officials assure residents that the process will be clean. In addition, all three machines will be run on a private network as a means of limiting the risks involved.
The initiative was decided upon by Forth Worth mayor Mattie Parker, who is the first millennial mayor to ever run the city. In a statement, Parker explained that leaning towards bitcoin will prepare the region and its citizens for the future of finance, and she has no doubt everything will go digital in the coming years. She commented:
For Fort Worth, a lot of people don’t know who we are. We want to change that conversation, and we believe tech innovation including cryptocurrency is the way we’re going to do that… This is something brand new for any city. There’s a lot of policy here that we’ve had to jump through hoops to understand.
Texas has long been one of the most crypto-friendly regions in the United States. Not long ago, the area became a hotspot for new bitcoin miners who were being kicked out of their native China after Beijing ruled that all crypto mining activity and trading was illegal. Unwilling to just close their shops permanently, many of these miners set their sights on Texas, aware of its cheap energy and open economic policies.
Parker said she got the idea to step into the crypto limelight after speaking with several of her friends in venture capital. They said that most of the industry – roughly 80 percent – is focused on technology and tech stocks, and bitcoin and other forms of crypto are right at the center. Parker said:
We’re the fastest growing city in the country. There’s so much excitement around North Texas and Fort Worth in particular. To really keep that energy going, we need to push ourselves differently, and we think cryptocurrency is a huge part of our future economy.
To make the move happen, Fort Worth teamed up with several crypto partners including Luxor Technologies who supplied the mining rigs and the Texas Blockchain Council. Together, they established the means necessary for the city to mine BTC.
This Is Setting a Positive Example
Alex Brammer – VP of business development for Luxor – expressed his enthusiasm, stating:
Mayor Parker is setting an example and effectively de-risking both bitcoin mining and bitcoin treasury strategies for every other mayor in the country, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more announcements like this coming in the future.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/fort-worth-texas-is-the-first-official-us-city-to-mine-crypto/