The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) plans to allocate 25 GW of its electricity supply over the next decade to crypto miners, according to recent reports.
Contents
Texas is Pro Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Mining
Over the recent years, Texas has remained receptive to cryptocurrencies, formulating supportive laws to promote crypto adoption as they progressively aim to be a mining hub in the years to come. The decision by ERCOT to assign a significant chunk of its electricity to crypto miners is a massive endorsement of cryptocurrencies.
By the electricity council’s estimation, crypto mining will consume at least 6 GW by mid-2023. However, this is far much less than the total demand from crypto miners who, based on their inquiries and requests to connect to the state’s electricity grid, tops 17 GW.
Crypto miners are attracted to Texas’ cheap electricity rates and supportive crypto laws. While their electricity demand remains high, state officials and politicians are confident that their energy needs would make the grid more resilient, averting the catastrophe of last year when the grid collapsed, leaving over 240 people dead.
Texas Crypto Miners to be on Flexible Load, Bitcoin Hash Rate Spikes to Record Highs
Connecting miners, ERCOT clarifies, will be on a flexible load. Therefore, depending on the state’s electricity demands, their demand could be tuned to, most importantly, cater to the demand of the people. The regulator has a special program that allows large clients, including enrolled crypto miners, how much they are willing to curtain prices.
Based on the steps taken by ERCOT in the recent past, it appears that they are readying to onboard crypto miners on a larger scale, bolstering the security of leading proof of work cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and presently Ethereum. These networks depend on a community of miners operating energy “hungry” gear to process transactions and secure the platform in exchange for valuable, liquid cryptocurrencies.
As the miners jostle to plug into public networks, the hash rate has been on an upward trajectory despite lagging prices.
On April 28, the Bitcoin hash rate rose to the highest level of over 110 EH/s.
Image Source
- Crypto News BlockMagnates: Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash
