With China banning bitcoin (BTC) mining, miners across the globe see new opportunities to start mining themselves. And within the United States, we see that miners prefer several states. Thanks to their attractive regulatory climate and cheap electricity prices, Texas and New York seem to attract the most miners.
This is a conclusion that CNBC draws based on data from Foundry USA, the biggest mining pool in the US. Of its hash rate, almost 20% is produced in New York, 18,7% in Kentucky, 17,3% in Georgia, and 14%. Although Texas’s share is likely understated as this data doesn’t include the hash rate from Riot Blockchain, one of the largest bitcoin mining pools in the US. Riot Blockchain has significant mining activities in Texas, and thus it is assumed that Texas probably accounts for a bigger share in the total.
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index map shows that the USA is now the epicenter of bitcoin mining. According to the researchers, the USA generates 35,4% of the global hash rate. After China banned mining, it now seems that the US is positioning itself as a world leader in mining activities.
Bitcoin mining helps the energy sector
Texas seems to lead the pack when it comes to the adoption of bitcoin mining. During the recent Texas Blockchain Summit, even Texas Senator Ted Cruz was optimistic about how mining could help the state in many ways. For example, Texas is a significant oil producer. A byproduct of oil is methane gas that is typically burned. It is not economically viable to transport this gas to a facility and sell it as many oil wells are in the middle of nowhere. Cruz commented that miners could offer a solution here:
“Fifty percent of the natural gas in this country that is flared, is being flared in the Permian right now in West Texas. I think that is an enormous opportunity for bitcoin, because that’s right now energy that is just being wasted. It’s being wasted because there is no transmission equipment to get that natural gas where it could be used the way natural gas would ordinarily be employed; it’s just being burned.”
With bitcoin miners using this gas, there will be a completer burn, meaning fewer harmful gasses end up in the atmosphere as methane is a far more dangerous greenhouse gas. Another way miners could help the state is by mining bitcoin with surplus renewable energy, making renewable energy more economically viable. Often, these sources produce energy at moments when no one needs it. This energy is then dumped in the ground and thus wasted. Instead, miners could use this energy to mine bitcoin and turn the power into something valuable.
