Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 91 posts

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#11

Post by jimbob45 »

trhway wrote: post #7
Aterio wrote: post #5

Always a good idea to build and consume renewable energy and then making heat out of it. Texas power grid sounds very good: cheap and reliable. Ah wait wait we talk about searching for arbitrary hashes which can't be recycled or actually used in a state which probably needs AC in summer and an independent unstable power grid in a time were every additional CO2 generated creates even more pressure for our society. Per…

BTC providing demand for renewables stimulates the development of renewables. Any massive investment like in renewables carries a risk, and the higher the demand the lesser the risk for the investment on the supply side.

Using organs as dog food also stimulates the organ donation market. Still, maybe it's best to use our current stock wisely.

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#12

Post by [deleted] »

dvt wrote: post #9

I'm genuinely curious when the fat lady will stop singing in regards to Bitcoin. I sort-of understand the allure of ETH and its derivatives ("programmable money" does bring something new to the table), but BTC is supposed to be a "value store" yet is down 30% from November; or it's supposed to be a "currency" but you can't use it as one; or it's supposed to be "decentralized" but mining is monopolized by a handful of…

[deleted]

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#13

Post by seltzered_ »

Aterio wrote: post #5

Always a good idea to build and consume renewable energy and then making heat out of it. Texas power grid sounds very good: cheap and reliable. Ah wait wait we talk about searching for arbitrary hashes which can't be recycled or actually used in a state which probably needs AC in summer and an independent unstable power grid in a time were every additional CO2 generated creates even more pressure for our society. Per…

"Good idea to build and consume renewable energy"

A deeper dive: they aren't renewable, they're at best rebuildable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=2682s - (Dr. Nate Hagens - Earth and Humanity: Myth and Reality - Myth #21: Renewables Can Power THIS Civilization)

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#14

Post by walrus01 »

ameminator wrote: post #2

We'll see how that holds up, especially since the Texas power grid seemed especially strained in the last little while.

It's OK, if it gets too cold in Texas you can always fly to Cancun for a while, as shown by the example of some notable local politicians who espouse a "the free market will fix everything" philosophy.

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#15

Post by vmception »

My prediction is that the only ones of these that will survive are the natural gas ones that also sell to the grid.

Texas has so much gas and methane being thrown into the atmosphere for decades. The regulator rubber stamps pollution exceptions to allow sites to continue doing it. Crypto miners can and are cleaning that up, since they have a simple usage converting that gas to energy with a simple catalytic converter. Low infrastructure, light weight, and doesnt even need much of an internet connection compared to a data center.

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#16

Post by Aterio »

trhway wrote: post #7
Aterio wrote: post #5

Always a good idea to build and consume renewable energy and then making heat out of it. Texas power grid sounds very good: cheap and reliable. Ah wait wait we talk about searching for arbitrary hashes which can't be recycled or actually used in a state which probably needs AC in summer and an independent unstable power grid in a time were every additional CO2 generated creates even more pressure for our society. Per…

BTC providing demand for renewables stimulates the development of renewables. Any massive investment like in renewables carries a risk, and the higher the demand the lesser the risk for the investment on the supply side.

No it doesn't.

It's just a lie.

BTC provides demand for cheap energy not for renewable.

And it consumes the demand. It doesn't create this demand for others.

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#17

Post by TigeriusKirk »

RedBeetDeadpool wrote: post #6
oblib wrote: post #3

So, what I gathered from this is that they will be using off-site power to run these "mining machines" while sucking up all the power they may get from solar they install and own at a time when those living there are experiencing blackouts in harsh weather conditions. Gotta love Texas!

If the price of electricity rises, then don't mine bitcoin, sell it back to the grid.

The article says that's the plan. We'll see if it works out that way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

“When you can consume 20% of your electricity on site and sell roughly 80% back into the grid, and can shut down our miners in a minute if we need during peak hours, that offers a massive benefit with regards to smoothing our supply and demand across the energy grid,” Ward said, describing the benefits of building on-site solar panels.

“We can still make money [when bitcoin miners are turned off] by selling our leftover solar energy back into the wholesale system. This won’t hurt our profitability, yet the relief it could provide to the end consumer could be massive,” he said.

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#18

Post by vmception »

dvt wrote: post #9

I'm genuinely curious when the fat lady will stop singing in regards to Bitcoin. I sort-of understand the allure of ETH and its derivatives ("programmable money" does bring something new to the table), but BTC is supposed to be a "value store" yet is down 30% from November; or it's supposed to be a "currency" but you can't use it as one; or it's supposed to be "decentralized" but mining is monopolized by a handful of…

All blockchains are just databases that anyone can write to by paying in the transferable database units. People are willing to do that.

Don't worry about the sales pitches for why other people hoard the database units. It periodically fits their risk profile, or it doesnt. Who cares.

I like using the database, I expect to continue being able to.

Other platforms don’t have the same features regarding the tradability of the unit. Dealbreaker.

Re: How Texas is becoming a Bitcoin mining hub

#20

Post by Aterio »

seltzered_ wrote: post #13
Aterio wrote: post #5

Always a good idea to build and consume renewable energy and then making heat out of it. Texas power grid sounds very good: cheap and reliable. Ah wait wait we talk about searching for arbitrary hashes which can't be recycled or actually used in a state which probably needs AC in summer and an independent unstable power grid in a time were every additional CO2 generated creates even more pressure for our society. Per…

"Good idea to build and consume renewable energy" A deeper dive: they aren't renewable, they're at best rebuildable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=2682s - (Dr. Nate Hagens - Earth and Humanity: Myth and Reality - Myth #21: Renewables Can Power THIS Civilization)

I assume we will continue to use renewable energy and mean what you describe.

Interesting to hear rebuild able haven't heard that before.

Post reply on HN