Cryptocurrency & ERCOT

What’s happening? Politicians are touting it, and cryptocurrency miners see the lone star state and its low-cost energy as an appealing location.

Why is this important? A research associate at the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas at Austin says that “Because Texas has some of the lowest cost electricity in the world, it looks pretty attractive to bitcoin miners or cryptocurrency miners.”

How will this be important? Opponents. Like these:

• An associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University says ” “But just adding brand new demand to the grid isn’t helpful, or doesn’t fix the shortfalls.”
• founder of the website Digiconomist which analyzes the impacts of cryptocurrencies says ” “This is a massive risk when you look at the Texas grid, which is already quite weak,”

Houston Chronicle via Governing | Can Texas’ Power Grid Withstand Cryptocurrency Mining?