Company wants to build 120 megawatt Bitcoin mine in Texas

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Bitcoin miner Mawson Infrastructure (MIGI) said it plans to develop a new 120 megawatt (MW) facility in Texas and expects it to be fully operational by the fourth quarter.

Site development is expected to start this quarter.

The facility could potentially accommodate up to 4 exahash per second (EH/s) of bitcoin mining capacity, the miner said in a statement.

Mawson is working to secure the power purchase agreements required to start the facility and will utilize both carbon credits and renewable energy credits as well as participate in curtailment programs to ensure grid load management.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/mawson-to-develop-new-bitcoin-mining-site-in-texas/ar-AAXlbov

After recent events does Texas have the power grid to support this?

"Sorry that your power's out but Mawson Infrastructure has priority."

[CrispyQ]

1. A story on this was posted yesterday & indicated that TX believes that if Bitcoin comes to TX,

power companies will follow.

Texas Governor Abbott Turns to Bitcoin Miners to Bolster the Grid and His Re-Election

ByMichael Smith
January 27, 2022, 8:00 AM MST

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-27/texas-governor-eyes-bitcoin-mining-to-fortify-the-electric-grid

snip...


Last fall, Texas Governor Greg Abbott gathered dozens of cryptocurrency deal makers in Austin where they discussed an idea that, on its face, seemed almost upside down: Electricity-hungry Bitcoin miners could shore up the state’s power grid, a top priority after a deep freeze last winter triggered blackouts that left hundreds dead.

The industry’s advocates have been making that pitch to the governor for years. The idea is that the miners’ computer arrays would demand so much electricity that someone would come along to build more power plants, something Texas badly needs. If the grid starts to go wobbly, as it did when winter storm Uri froze up power plants in February 2021, miners could quickly shut down to conserve energy for homes and businesses. At least two Bitcoin miners have already volunteered to do just that.

It's hard to believe that voters buy this shit.

[Dave says]

20. I don't think the average Texas voter is aware of how thoroughly they've been f**ked over the years

[Binkie The Clown]

2. Humanity has lost its collective mind.

To waste a resource already in short supply on something that is inherently worthless is the height of insanity.

[Initech]

14. No just Texas has.

[Liberal In Texas]

3. They should be forced to build their own power sources.

And they would have to be wind or solar.

[moose65]

4. I feel like a dinosaur more and more lately.

I don't know, y'all. I'm in my mid-50s, and I teach at a community college. I am fairly tech-savvy, but lately I feel like I am being left behind on a couple of fronts, and one of them is crypto-currency.

I just don't "get" it. I don't understand where it comes from and what it's even used for, really. When I hear about "miners" all I can think about is people covered in dirt or coal dust!

The other thing that I don't get lately is NFT's. Can't quite wrap my head around that, either.

[demigoddess]

5. I agree with you totally. This sounds like stupidity to me. "MINING" bitcoin??

[brush]

6. Avoid crypto currencies unless you have money to risk...

losing the next time they crater like they just recently did. It's almost a ponzi scheme where the first ones in are always poised to cash out and everyone else loses. It's a casino more or less.

NFTs are nothing but a scam. They're virtual images that someone puts online and try's to convince others that they're valuable and worth buying. Melaria trump has offered a couple of images and thankfully they tanked.

Imagine, paying money for an image that you can't even hold in your hand, just view it virtually. That's the essence of scamming.

[moose65]

15. I kinda had the same thought re NFTs

I had never really heard of them until Melania did hers, then I looked it up and I was like, "WHAT??"

Madonna did one recently where she had butterflies flying out of her hoo-ha, I think

[brush]

16. Heehee. I hadn't heard of the Madonna one.

Who would want to buy that?

It's cray-cray.

[moose65]

17. I guess someone must want to

I heard it referred to as "Madge's Vag"

[brush]

18. Have you heard of any sales? I know the two Malaria trump...

offered tanked as no one wanted them.

[hack89]

7. Crypto currencies require enormous computing resources

To handle all the background calculations that make it secure. All mining means is that if you allow the crypto currency company access to your computer (s) to do those calculations, they will pay you crypto money.

A rather brilliant way to get around building a dedicated computing architecture.

[Amishman]

9. Really old crypto currencies require it. Most newer versions require very little electric

It all has to do with the method used to secure the network and validate the transactions.

Bitcoin and most of the oldest crypto projects use Proof of Work (PoW) where authentication intentionally requires massive computing power to prevent a single entity from monopolizing validation of the chain. To hijack the chain a party would have to control 51% of the hardware used for its computation. This has resulted in ever greater resources used for this computation (known as mining) as participation in this function of the blockchain is how new coins are created and distributed.

Newer projects use Proof of Stake (PoS). Rather than contributing to the computation of the chain being open to anyone, anyone who wants to participate must own a significant amount of that coin (their stake). That sake is locked in to ensure against malicious action by that party. These validator nodes can be run on a single little Raspberry PI or a cell phone, rather than a huge room of servers.

[hack89]

10. Thanks. My knowledge is rudimentary

I can imagine the state of the art is evolving at breakneck speed.

[Amishman]

12. It's frustrating because investing and hype does not at all align with the best tech

Bitcoin is the big name and focus of investment - and is absolutely the worst one from a technology perspective. Even freaking Doge coin has better tech.

Yet you have extremely advanced and polished platforms like Tezos that hardly get any attention, despite being more advanced than all their rivals and only adding to that lead as time goes on.

[moose65]

13. Thanks for the explanation

Now it's all crystal clear.

I'm just kidding. I am sure it's good for something, but I don't really understand it. You can't hold it in your hand, you can't touch it - I just don't get it.

[XanaDUer2]

19. I'm 56

I don't understand it, and I also thought mining had something to do with going underground.

I want nothing to do with it

[Demovictory9]

21. if you are going to learn, include Blockchain in your curriculum

[Initech]

8. So Texas has no power for hospitals or homes or businesses...

But somehow they can have a fucking Bitcoin farm sucking all the energy from that state? Holy shit.

[HAB911]

11. At least that will not stress the fragile grid

[ARPad95]

22. Be careful what you wish for, Texas!

How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York town
Between rising electricity rates and soaring climate costs, cryptomining is taking its toll on communities.
By Lois Parshley
April 18, 2022

It didn’t take long for a subsidiary of the popular mining firm Coinmint to lease a Family Dollar store in Plattsburgh. The city’s building inspector, Joe McMahon, remembers that the man who signed the lease, Prieur Leary, wanted everything done quickly. “Overnight, he wanted power on,” McMahon says. “We were all uneasy about it but didn’t know the harm.”

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/18/1049331/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-cryptomining-new-york/

[dalton99a]

23. +1. "Each Bitcoin transaction consumes 1,173 kilowatt-hours

- more than the average American uses in a month"