Bitcoin mining in Texas - new trend - will Tesla follow

[casperBGD]

https://decrypt.co/60598/argo-blockchain-buys-land-to-build-bitcoin-mining-facility-in-texas
https://decrypt.co/11741/another-major-bitcoin-mining-farm-set-to-open-texas
https://decrypt.co/20018/peter-thiel-backed-layer1-opens-up-bitcoin-mining-facility-in-texas

seems that Texas natural resources, natural gas and wind energy are drawing companies to invest in mining farms in Texas and Argo blockchain followed suit, with 320 acres of land acquisition

1. Bitmain launched mining facility in Rochdale, Texas, current capacity 50MW, with plans to expand to 300MW - edit: questionable status


2. Northern Data AG has mining facility in Texas, that is currently upgraded to 1GW, and plans for 2023 upgrade to 3600MW, which is world largest mining facility


3. Layer1 mining facility with upper goal of 100MW


4. Argo Blockchain acquired 320 acres of land to establish Bitcoin mining facility

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

Are these mines close to the power source? Because that can be helpful for them to reduce their expenses in energy consumption. Tesla following this trend won't be possible as they are mainly a car company, maybe Elon might create another mining start up that are more focused on the bitcoin and other related stuff.

[joniboini]

maybe Elon might create another mining start up that are more focused on the bitcoin and other related stuff.

Or they could just buy some shares from these companies. No need to start from the beginning if you can get it at a lower cost. Not sure about the profit either, if they think staking/trading is better I guess we won't see any movement.

I could see Tesla buying a ton of PoS coin and run a node, something like ETH2 or BSC.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

maybe Elon might create another mining start up that are more focused on the bitcoin and other related stuff.

Or they could just buy some shares from these companies. No need to start from the beginning if you can get it at a lower cost. Not sure about the profit either, if they think staking/trading is better I guess we won't see any movement.

That could work but I don't think that they are going for a meager percentage, maybe they can buy the majority of the shares but who knows what they will do, I was just speculating on what is going to happen next.

[Taskford]

Are these mines close to the power source? Because that can be helpful for them to reduce their expenses in energy consumption. Tesla following this trend won't be possible as they are mainly a car company, maybe Elon might create another mining start up that are more focused on the bitcoin and other related stuff.

Elon is open for possibilities of venturing on other investment option and might they will grab the option to open up a mining farm since its quite good option for them to open that. Remember they have capabilities since they have resources to make this project happen, but lets expect that they will use electric or other cheap methods so I believe they can lessen their operational cost if they can make their mining farm run by solar or other green energy source.

[poodle63]

Would be great if Elon could made some green technology like his solar panel that could somehow helps these miners saving on electricity meanwhile switching over to green energy.
But honestly when it comes to mining like this I'd expect tesla to be the last company to invest into such thing, even when they bought btc back then many investors opposes so I doubt they gonna venture to mining like this.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

Are these mines close to the power source? Because that can be helpful for them to reduce their expenses in energy consumption. Tesla following this trend won't be possible as they are mainly a car company, maybe Elon might create another mining start up that are more focused on the bitcoin and other related stuff.

Elon is open for possibilities of venturing on other investment option and might they will grab the option to open up a mining farm since its quite good option for them to open that. Remember they have capabilities since they have resources to make this project happen, but lets expect that they will use electric or other cheap methods so I believe they can lessen their operational cost if they can make their mining farm run by solar or other green energy source.

Elon has a lot of things on his hands and I think that he will be having a hard time juggling all the work for his current companies. I don't know why would he will be choosing Texas though, I don't live in the USA but the only thing that I can think that is the advantage of living or setting up business in Texas is that it is a midway between East Coast and West Coast, the only problem with the current usage of renewable energy source is that they need a huge amount of land to cover to get an efficient harvest of power.

[jackg]

Elon has a lot of things on his hands and I think that he will be having a hard time juggling all the work for his current companies. I don't know why would he will be choosing Texas though, I don't live in the USA but the only thing that I can think that is the advantage of living or setting up business in Texas is that it is a midway between East Coast and West Coast, the only problem with the current usage of renewable energy source is that they need a huge amount of land to cover to get an efficient harvest of power.

I thought texas was one of the biggest states and one of the cheapest states to buy a lot of land also?


Bitdeer look to have been in texas a while before now also. I think vitamin are still busy trying to not be affiliated with the ccp or look controlled by them (as they've opened mining facilities in Europe and now the US).

Would be great if Elon could made some green technology like his solar panel that could somehow helps these miners saving on electricity meanwhile switching over to green energy.
But honestly when it comes to mining like this I'd expect tesla to be the last company to invest into such thing, even when they bought btc back then many investors opposes so I doubt they gonna venture to mining like this.

It'd be much more valuable to snap up the means of production (the power stations).

I don't think Elon can do much more than throw money at projects and researchers and hope they work though...

[The Sceptical Chymist]

seems that Texas natural resources, natural gas and wind energy are drawing companies to invest in mining farms in Texas and Argo blockchain followed suit, with 320 acres of land acquisition

Admittedly, I haven't read those articles, but are those the reasons why Texas seems to be a burgeoning hotbed for bitcoin mining?  I wouldn't think that natural gas or wind would be big factors unless some of these farms plan to be wind-powered (which would be pretty damn cool).  What Texas does have going for it is fairly cheap land and probably low electricity costs.

Anyway, I was surprised to see that many groups using Texas as their base of operations.  Last I heard, there was a big one that planned to start mining there but scuttled it for some reason (and I don't remember the details).  Go Texas!

Would be great if Elon could made some green technology like his solar panel that could somehow helps these miners saving on electricity meanwhile switching over to green energy.

That would be cool.  It'd be nice to see a huge mining farm that was solar powered, but I'm not sure how much sun the various parts of Texas get.  It's a huge state. 

[casperBGD]

Elon has a lot of things on his hands and I think that he will be having a hard time juggling all the work for his current companies. I don't know why would he will be choosing Texas though, I don't live in the USA but the only thing that I can think that is the advantage of living or setting up business in Texas is that it is a midway between East Coast and West Coast, the only problem with the current usage of renewable energy source is that they need a huge amount of land to cover to get an efficient harvest of power.

I thought texas was one of the biggest states and one of the cheapest states to buy a lot of land also?

yeah, Texas has natural resources, with plenty of natural gas and wind, and it is a big state and land is cheap there

with Tesla mentioning, I thought that Elon could broaden his Starbase City with a Bitcoin mining facility, he is actually building a city there, so why not?
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starbase-city-spacex-texas-launch-site-2021-3

~snip
That would be cool.  It'd be nice to see a huge mining farm that was solar powered, but I'm not sure how much sun the various parts of Texas get.  It's a huge state. 

yeah, and that would also bring weight to USA mining and equalize global hash rate disposition, which is on China side at the moment, hoovering above 50%

[davis196]

The electricity supply system of Texas(I don't know how to call it) crashed a few weeks ago,due to the cold weather and snowing,which was something weird for a state like Texas.
AFAIK,Texas is a leader in the US,when it comes to renewable energy(solar and wind).
Unfortunately,solar and wind energy are still expensive for cryptocurrency mining.
Those Bitcoin miners better build their own power facilities and produce their own electricity.Their investment will pay off,after 25 years or sooner(if the Bitcoin price goes to 100K and above).

[casperBGD]

The electricity supply system of Texas(I don't know how to call it) crashed a few weeks ago,due to the cold weather and snowing,which was something weird for a state like Texas.
AFAIK,Texas is a leader in the US,when it comes to renewable energy(solar and wind).
Unfortunately,solar and wind energy are still expensive for cryptocurrency mining.
Those Bitcoin miners better build their own power facilities and produce their own electricity.Their investment will pay off,after 25 years or sooner(if the Bitcoin price goes to 100K and above).

yeah, there was a crash, and reportedly, Bitcoin miners stopped mining and sold their electric power to the country, since that brought more profit than Bitcoin mining, economy at its finest
nevertheless, one/two days outage would not bring trend reversal, Texas could be new Bitcoin mining Eldorado

[stompix]

One correction:

1. Bitmain launched mining facility in Rochdale, Texas, current capacity 50MW, with plans to expand to 300MW

This one was canceled a year ago
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/52163/bitmain-cancels-operation-partnership-for-its-texas-mining-farm

For the rest, only Whinstone US (the subsidiary of Northern Data AG )actually has the gear and orders to raise its capacity to those levels.
Ps, they have some at least interesting videos on their FB page from the construction.

AFAIK,Texas is a leader in the US,when it comes to renewable energy(solar and wind).
Unfortunately,solar and wind energy are still expensive for cryptocurrency mining.

Good old dirty and cheap coal (and gas)to the rescue.  

Would be great if Elon could made some green technology like his solar panel that could somehow helps these miners saving on electricity meanwhile switching over to green energy.

Unfortunately, solar panels only provide energy for a few hours during the day, it's one thing to store enough energy to run your tv or a washing machine during the night and a different thing to power up 10000 3KW miners for hours or in some cases even days. Without government subsidies, there is no way to run it and still make a profit, which wouldn't really be fair for others industries.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I am afraid that this is not going to work. Electricity is not that cheap in the United States. It is relatively cheap, but not as cheap as what they have in China and Russia. On top of that, with Joe Biden in power, we can expect closer scrutiny on electricity generation using coal or natural gas. And finally, the mining rigs needs to be imported from China. All these factors mean that Bitcoin mining in the United States can be profitable only if a high exchange rate is sustained on a continued basis.

[casperBGD]

One correction:

1. Bitmain launched mining facility in Rochdale, Texas, current capacity 50MW, with plans to expand to 300MW

This one was canceled a year ago
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/52163/bitmain-cancels-operation-partnership-for-its-texas-mining-farm

actually, contract between Bitmain and DMG Blockchain for mining operation management is canceled, but facility is still working and construction works for the third line are under way
https://www.rockdalemdd.org/news/small-town-texas-turns-bitcoin-mining-survive

seems that Northern Data AG and Bitmain have their facilities in the same building, within Whinstone land in Rockdale industrial area
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Whinstone+US,+INC/@30.5737315,-97.0765217,939m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8620bb6e60e32833:0x1b0aa9bc508390e0!8m2!3d30.5724811!4d-97.0775909

[mu_enrico]

It seems lots of businesses are moving to Texas, not only mining. That's the beauty of capitalism and the so-called capital flight. If the government creates stupid (not pro-business) policies, they will move.

And yes Tesla will follow:

"Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future."

Source.

[stompix]

actually, contract between Bitmain and DMG Blockchain for mining operation management is canceled, but facility is still working and construction works for the third line are under way
https://www.rockdalemdd.org/news/small-town-texas-turns-bitcoin-mining-survive

seems that Northern Data AG and Bitmain have their facilities in the same building, within Whinstone land in Rockdale industrial area

Northern Data AG is Whinstone, they have already constructed their facility in Rockdale, you can see it in the video I linked in, Northern Data never partnered with Bitmain for the construction, they are only buying the miners from them, it was DMG who planned the other farm and that project is dead, Bitmain has already relocated most of the miners from that site to their other farm you can see that everybody stopped reporting since last year about it.
Probably adding to the confusion is that both were going to be constructed in the same town and less than one mile away from another and the fact that often partnership means only supplying the gear.

[so98nn]

Oh my God, those are huge numbers you talking about. 50 MW to 300 MW, 1 GW that’s huge mining power from the current giants and they are always expanding. The Argo plant in 360 acre is huge thing man. That’s gonna be huge expansion of the mining operation. Moreover, if all of these three really starts over the time then it will have good impact on the transactions. Like lesser wait time for the transaction and lesser wait time may be?? I mean these things could happen right? Since we will have huge increase in mining power (?)

[stompix]

Moreover, if all of these three really starts over the time then it will have good impact on the transactions. Like lesser wait time for the transaction and lesser wait time may be?? I mean these things could happen right? Since we will have huge increase in mining power (?)

Even if they plan that all the mining gear comes online right after a difficult retarget for each of them the impact will be minimal, the power capacity is there but there are no sufficient miners to connect.
A 10% increase which would trigger faster blocks could be achieved right now with ~150 000 S19pro but Bitmain can't produce that many, for example, their contract with Marathon states 7000 miners in July and the rest till 70k spread till December, Riot has purchased 15 000 and they will be delivered from May till October. Looking at those numbers and even assuming multiple other partners it would look like even 50 000 asics a month is close to impossible, not even speaking of 75 000 a week.

We have seen an increase of barely 5% from January 11 till now, almost two months, 10% a week is in my opinion close to impossible with the current shortages, so no, there won't be any relief to the mempool coming from this side.

[AmoreJaz]

Moreover, if all of these three really starts over the time then it will have good impact on the transactions. Like lesser wait time for the transaction and lesser wait time may be?? I mean these things could happen right? Since we will have huge increase in mining power (?)

Even if they plan that all the mining gear comes online right after a difficult retarget for each of them the impact will be minimal, the power capacity is there but there are no sufficient miners to connect.
A 10% increase which would trigger faster blocks could be achieved right now with ~150 000 S19pro but Bitmain can't produce that many, for example, their contract with Marathon states 7000 miners in July and the rest till 70k spread till December, Riot has purchased 15 000 and they will be delivered from May till October. Looking at those numbers and even assuming multiple other partners it would look like even 50 000 asics a month is close to impossible, not even speaking of 75 000 a week.

We have seen an increase of barely 5% from January 11 till now, almost two months, 10% a week is in my opinion close to impossible with the current shortages, so no, there won't be any relief to the mempool coming from this side.

but this news is a very good one as it means maybe by next year, we will see the improvement of fees. and it won't be a surprise if TESLA will follow such move. now, we are not only seeing financial institutions coming into crypto, but even mining farms are being built. who knows, they will beat the mining farms in China? though it is a long shot, but last year's statistics says that about 65% are covered by China as compared to only 7.24% in the US.