Fort Worth Becomes First City to Mine Bitcoin

[Oluwa-btc]

The city of Fort Worth, Texas, says it will start mining bitcoin on Tuesday, potentially becoming the first US city to do so, city authorities said.

The Texas Blockchain Council, a nonprofit association made up of companies and individuals that work in the blockchain industry, donated three Bitmain s9 bitcoin mining machines to Fort Worth, enabling the city to launch what it calls “a mining pilot program.
Beginning Tuesday afternoon, machines will run 24/7 in the information technology solutions department data center located at Fort Worth City Hall. The machines will be housed on a private network to minimize security risk, city authorities said.

“With blockchain technology and cryptocurrency revolutionizing the financial landscape, we want to transform Fort Worth into a tech-friendly city,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said. “Today, with the support and partnership of [the] Texas Blockchain Council, we’re stepping into that world on a small scale while sending a big message — Fort Worth is where the future begins.”
Texas, with its cheap energy and favorable regulations, has become a hotspot for miners in recent months. Seven large mining companies and 20 smaller ones are currently based in the state, according to data from the Texas Blockchain Council.

“Many politicians in Texas are starting to see the benefits bitcoin mining can bring, be those from tax revenue, job creation, or grid stabilizing.”

This will enhance more local governments to delve into Bitcoin mining, hopefully the bill to ban Crypto Currency mining by New York legislators won't be a drawback. Let's hope for better news ahead.


Source link: https://blockworks.co/fort-worth-becomes-first-city-to-mine-bitcoin/

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[franky1]

3 x s9
are you kidding me
such a small gimmick it shouldnt even be news worthy

there are dozens of texas residents with more then that per household each, that have been running for years

donating a outdated crappy inefficient ASIC from 4 years ago is not what i would call doing texas any favours, nor news worthy.

at lets say $0.12/kwh electric(standard average residential rate in texas) per asic. ($0.36 for three) meaning $8.64 a day in electric costs. those 3 s9's are only mine about ~600sats($7.20) thus the 'council' are losing the state $1.44 a day in costs

[Franctoshi]

3 x s9
are you kidding me
such a small gimmick it shouldnt even be news worthy

there are dozens of texas residents with more then that per household each, that have been running for years

donating a outdated crappy inefficient ASIC from 4 years ago is not what i would call doing texas any favours, nor news worthy.

at lets say $0.12/kwh electric(standard average residential rate in texas) per asic. ($0.36 for three) meaning $8.64 a day in electric costs. those 3 s9's are only mine about ~600sats($7.20) thus the 'council' are losing the state $1.44 a day in costs

But generally not a bad news as being the first city to do so, I believe from this starting point they will find other more efficient way
or machines of improving their mining.
Imagine if other cities buys this idea and begins their own mining and use more efficient machines to mine, so generally the news coming out still have a significant role it will play for Bitcoin.

[pooya87]

But generally not a bad news as being the first city to do so

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate? I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that! Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

[NeuroticFish]

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate? I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that! Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

Actually it's not so much unexpected for governments actually mine Bitcoin, just I expected this happen much later, when they have exposure (reserves) in bitcoin.
While I agree it's not a great news on long term, it's still a very small move, which, for now, can increase the trust of average Joe in Bitcoin (which, as already happened, can be seen as good). I would be more scared if they (also) start using their own mining pools where they can filter out unwanted transactions.

So, yeah, I have mixed feelings. I think that it's, unfortunately, quite a normal move, after all.

[tbct_mt2]

They can mine Bitcoin silently or publicly announce it to their citizens and the world. Bitcoin does not need government mining to be used because it has a very decentralized network globally. Bitcoin does not need legal tender to be transacted and used by the people.

I see the news in a way that it might help Bitcoin more easily to be approved and accepted by laws. It's a good support activity to bring Bitcoin to legal tender, at least in that city or state. Wider scale, from national to global, it takes time.

In the meantime, you can enjoy freedom with Bitcoin and its decentralized network.

[SFR10]

donating a outdated crappy inefficient ASIC from 4 years ago is not what i would call doing texas any favours, nor news worthy.

You have a point, but since it's for a pilot program, I don't think it needs to be the most efficient mining rig out there ^{[it's more than enough for doing some experiments]}.

I would be more scared if they (also) start using their own mining pools where they can filter out unwanted transactions.

This is a valid concern, but even if they try to do such a thing in the future, I don't think they'd be able to successfully identify and filter out "all" of those transactions.

[Wind_FURY]

But generally not a bad news as being the first city to do so

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate?  

I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that! Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

What would happen if a government entity starts mining Bitcoin? What it would be doing is secure the network, and act in a way that its incentives will align with the success of the network.

Plus getting the real context, franky1 is right. The "news" isn't news-worthy. The "Pilot Program" might end their evaluation in, spending more money in electricity bills.

[pawanjain]

I am not sure if this is a good news of a bad news. Can someone throw some light.

1. Government is mining bitcoin which means if they do it on huge level then they get to manipulate the Bitcoin network
2. Government is mining bitcoin which means they are encouraging to mine bitcoin and will increase decentralization when many people start to follow them

[Lucius]

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate? I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that!

I think it's naive to think that no government (except El Salvador) has bought Bitcoin so far, or that it doesn't mine it secretly - of course only for the purpose of scientific research To be honest, we didn't want much of what was going on with Bitcoin - from making KYC mandatory, banks providing custodial services for crypto, futures, and ETFs, or stable coins that are actually a real Trojan horse that has crept deep into crypto trading.

Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

The US does not have many sincere friends in the world, but there are very few who do not respect them for more than obvious reasons from the recent and distant past. In addition, all eyes are on the country when it comes to Bitcoin, whether it is what the SEC, Saylor, Mr. Mars or someone else will say or do.

Shifting mining from dirty China to clean US was just a bad smokescreen, especially if one remembers what statements came from some influential people in the US crypto sector a few years ago when they said the US should take more initiatives when it comes to Bitcoin mining.

[franky1]

But generally not a bad news as being the first city to do so, I believe from this starting point they will find other more efficient way
or machines of improving their mining.
Imagine if other cities buys this idea and begins their own mining and use more efficient machines to mine, so generally the news coming out still have a significant role it will play for Bitcoin.

most cities cant even organise the funding to fill in road pot holes which cost under $1k a hole. yet you think that city administrators are going to invest 3x$12k to get 3 up-do-date next gen asics..
nah.

parts of america dont have the cheap electric to break even. thats why you see there is a certain price 'support' where you see the buys turn into mining and vise versa when price move above or below this threshold
most americans find that 85% of the time its easier cheaper and faster just to buy bitcoin

[SFR10]

But it'll hurt the evaluation, even the news mention break even is only possible with $0.025/kWh. Texas government could make inaccurate conclusion that Bitcoin mining (in general) isn't profitable while in fact they use old hardware.

In another article, they mentioned that this "project isn’t really about profits" and the fact that it'll last for six months probably indicates they'd be monitoring the other aspects ^{[e.g. reliability, dealing with faulty components and etc...]} instead.

[franky1]

But it'll hurt the evaluation, even the news mention break even is only possible with $0.025/kWh. Texas government could make inaccurate conclusion that Bitcoin mining (in general) isn't profitable while in fact they use old hardware.

In another article, they mentioned that this "project isn’t really about profits" and the fact that it'll last for six months probably indicates they'd be monitoring the other aspects ^{[e.g. reliability, dealing with faulty components and etc...]} instead.

again. being handed 3 outdated SECOND HAND asics that have been running for probably 5 years already, is just going to find faults.

it seems more of a "here is our hand-me-downs i dont like anymore. now wear them so i can tell all my friends that i do charity"
in other words a gimmick to try generating false narrative of government involvement/acceptance

heck i can give someone a starbucks giftcard for 3 coffee's. they may never want to go starbucks ever again after, but then i can shout out, i introduced someone to starbucks and they kept coming back multiple times.

see the difference of the two narratives:
"public office worker mines a few sats per day in a store room using donated asics"
vs
"fort worth is first bitcoin city"

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate? I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that! Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

If one or more governments start mining Bitcoin, it means that they consider it important and unstoppable. If they considered bitcoin to be like the currency of Zimbabwe, they wouldn't even worry about it.

I don't see it as such bad news.

The other thing is that it doesn't matter how we feel about it, the feeling we get from this news. As bitcoin is decentralised, anyone can start mining, and that includes governments.

[cabron]

But generally not a bad news as being the first city to do so

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate? I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that! Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

Isn't that what Bukele is doing too?

Governments mining BTC would likely be copied by the rest of the cities after. If the Russian and Chinese government will also be doing it, they'd all take the hash to mars. I bet they are already have it in mind when sanctions are taken into consideration. Unworthy as it may sound, its still news, even when its just old S9 its still an adoption which the government itself is mining.

[Darker45]

I don't think we should react to this as if this is some kind of a big deal. Of course, this is actually nothing when it comes to the actual hash power that it would contribute to the network or even to its profitability. This is definitely more symbolic than technical. I doubt this is even a serious official endeavor of the city. It would be funny if the city is indeed seriously pursuing to mine Bitcoin by starting with a few obsolete donations. It's more of the message or the statement. This is more of the newsmaker's fault to banner it like this.

[DapanasFruit]

The big reason why this is on the news is because this is a pioneering move of the government on the state level to get involved with Bitcoin mining. Now, in case they will find out that the whole thing is not that profitable then they always have the option to stop it or maybe continue the whole thing looking forward to the time when BTC can go beyond $100K. Of course, this is not a breakthrough or ground-breaking but as someone pointed by another poster here this is a big recognition on the part of Bitcoin for why would they be mining something if there do not see its value in the first place.

[WhyFhy]

3 x s9
are you kidding me
such a small gimmick it shouldnt even be news worthy

there are dozens of texas residents with more then that per household each, that have been running for years

donating a outdated crappy inefficient ASIC from 4 years ago is not what i would call doing texas any favours, nor news worthy.

at lets say $0.12/kwh electric(standard average residential rate in texas) per asic. ($0.36 for three) meaning $8.64 a day in electric costs. those 3 s9's are only mine about ~600sats($7.20) thus the 'council' are losing the state $1.44 a day in costs

My thoughts exactly!

But generally not a bad news as being the first city to do so

Is that double standard or are people not understanding what the news is saying?
It is the government that is running this mining program. Do we really want the governments start mining bitcoin and amass hashrate? I don't think anybody in bitcoin world wants that! Or maybe to some people, US government is an exception in that case think of it as maybe Russian or Chinese government start doing this next.

TBH those countries probably already are China probably got tons and tons of free gear and still getting it.

[pooya87]

What would happen if a government entity starts mining Bitcoin? What it would be doing is secure the network, and act in a way that its incentives will align with the success of the network.

It's hard to say because it depends on a lot of factors.
Since hashrate is well distributed, it is probably not a big concern but we should always take such things as a negative news because government, even if it is just one small state, is still a strong centralized entity that we don't want to have a lot of hashrate.
Not to mention that even with the smallest hashrate, we are 100% sure that they will censor transactions for their own blocks at least. And this goes against bitcoin principles.

Shifting mining from dirty China to clean US was just a bad smokescreen, especially if one remembers what statements came from some influential people in the US crypto sector a few years ago when they said the US should take more initiatives when it comes to Bitcoin mining.

That's comparing apples and oranges though. The mining in China was done by civilians so nothing about it was bad, while this case is done by the government.
BTW mining didn't shift from China to US, the Chinese hashrate migrated to other countries in Asia, they didn't migrate to another continent!

Isn't that what Bukele is doing too?

I think they just bought bitcoin and had some plans about mining in the future with some geothermal power plants or something like that. But it is all the same, I say any government mining bitcoin is bad.

[Wind_FURY]

What would happen if a government entity starts mining Bitcoin? What it would be doing is secure the network, and act in a way that its incentives will align with the success of the network.

It's hard to say because it depends on a lot of factors.

Since hashrate is well distributed, it is probably not a big concern but we should always take such things as a negative news because government, even if it is just one small state, is still a strong centralized entity that we don't want to have a lot of hashrate.

You're entitled to your opinion on who to hate/dislike, but we can't stop anything if an entity wants to start pointing hashing power to the Bitcoin network, an open permissionless system. I used to express my disapproval for Jihan Wu too, but I never believed that he would/should be stopped from pointing hashing power to the network. We simply can't do anything.

The incentive structure works, and before any bad actor can set their attack, they will discover that it will be more profitable by mining honestly.

Not to mention that even with the smallest hashrate, we are 100% sure that they will censor transactions for their own blocks at least. And this goes against bitcoin principles.

Mining is a competition for incentives. Fees are becoming a larger portion of those incentives. Their competitors will be happy to include those transactions in their blocks, and eventually grow larger and make those miners that censor transactions less and less profitable until they're not.