Week in BTX: Friday April 29, 2022
GIGA Chad Has Entered the Chat
RIOT/Whinstone isn’t happy with their Rockdale, Texas facility only being the largest Bitcoin mine in North America, they have their sights on the universe.
RIOT just announced a 1 GIGAWATT facility in Navarro County, Texas to be led by GIGA Chad Harris.
Chad and his team developed the Whinstone Bitcoin mine in Rockdale and they will be taking their skills 120 miles north to Navarro County. Upon completion of the facility, RIOT will be among the largest Bitcoin mining operations globally with 1.7 GW.
In other news, a friendly reminder to do your part and contribute to the upcoming Bitcoin supply shock!
General
Unchained Capital’s Parker Lewis and Cholla’s Gideon Powell published an article (Page 56) in the O&G publication NAPE Expo’s April 2022 edition explaining Bitcoin, mining, their relationship to energy and why Texas is set to dominate the industry.
Unchained Capital first offered Bitcoin back loans in 2017. Five years later Goldman Sachs just announced its first Bitcoin back loan offering.
Public Policy/Politics/Regulatory
While the New York State Assembly considers a two year moratorium on Bitcoin mining, the Oklahoma Legislature is considering SB 590, a bill to extend a tax break to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency miners that set up shop in the state.
The City of Fort Worth is the first city in the United States to mine Bitcoin and has set up a pilot Bitcoin mining project with three S9s hosted at City Hall in partnership with Luxor. Thank you Mayor Mattie Parker for championing Bitcoin mining in Fort Worth!
Texas man and Arkansas woman arrested for allegedly operating a money transmitting business that laundered the proceeds of crypto fraud schemes. According to the charging document, Charles Ochi, 27, of Grand Prairie, Texas, met Danielle Liggins, 32, of Little Rock, Ark. in Texas through a dating website and it went south from there….
Mining
RIOT announced the development of 256 acre, 1 GW facility in Navarro County, Texas for bitcoin mining and hosting. Initial phase has 400 MW of capacity, will create 270 jobs, is immersion-cooled and will be operational in July 2023. Priority Power is the energy partner.
ARGO released 2021 results: Increased revenue by 291% to $100m - Mining margin was 84%, up from 41% in 2020 - Grew EBITDA by 594% to $71m - Mining operations scheduled to begin at Helios facility in west Texas in May 2022 - Expect 5.5 EH/s of hashrate capacity by end of 2022.
11 months after being kicked out of China, Poolin turned the power on to their immersion cooled Bitcoin mining facility in west Texas utilizing Bitmain’s Antbox modular mining containers.
Yahoo News interviews Giga Energy’s Matt Lohstroh and visits a well site using stranded natural gas to mine Bitcoin.
CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos interviewed (happy) Compass Mining customers, both whales and plebs, to understand the appetite for small-scale mining as plebs increasingly compete with major industry players, like Giga Chad, with massive operations.
Wind and solar power accounted for a record 34% of electricity generation within ERCOT, outperforming the state’s fleet of combined-cycle gas turbines as the dominant source of electricity during the first three months of 2022, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
ERCOT’s Large Flexible Load Task Force met on April 26, 2022 and linked are numerous documents from the meeting covering the interim large load interconnection process, load resource participation, and presentations from large Bitcoin miners.
ERCOT expects Bitcoin miners to increase electricity demand by up to 6 gigawatts by mid-2023. Thanks Giga Chad.
Events
Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) Crypto Mining in the Basin May 4, 2022 in Midland
Austin Bitcoin Club May 6, 2022 at Bitcoin Commons
Energy Elevated Technology Showcase presented by TXOGA May 9, 2022 in Austin
Dallas Bitcoin Meetup May 12, 2022. DM @BossHogCapital or @Dallas_Bitcoin for details.
San Antonio Bitcoin Meetup May 12, 2022
Midland Bitcoin Meetup May 12, 2022
Austin Bitdevs May 19, 2022
Houston Bitcoin Meetup May 26, 2022
Austin Bitcoin Club June 2, 2022 at Bitcoin Commons
btc++ bitcoin dev conf in June 7-8, 2022 in Austin
Dallas Bitcoin Meetup June 9, 2022. DM @BossHogCapital or @Dallas_Bitcoin for details
Consensus June 10-12, 2022 in Austin
BitBlockParty June 10, 2022 during Consensus in Austin
Coin Center Annual Dinner June 10, 2022 during Consensus in Austin
Austin Bitdevs June 16, 2022
Houston Bitcoin Meetup June 23, 2022
Austin Bitcoin Club July 7, 2022 at Bitcoin Commons
Dallas Bitcoin Meetup July 14, 2022. DM @BossHogCapital or @Dallas_Bitcoin for details
Austin Bitdevs July 21, 2022
Houston Bitcoin Meetup July 28, 2022
Austin Bitcoin Club August 4, 2022 at Bitcoin Commons
Dallas Bitcoin Meetup August 11, 2022. DM @BossHogCapital or @Dallas_Bitcoin for details
BitBlockBoom August 25-28, 2022, in Austin
Texas Blockchain Summit November 18, 2022 in Austin SAVE THE DATE
LinkedIn says Bitcoin and crypto job postings grew 395% in 2021: 3x the tech industry. Have a Bitcoin related job you want to promote? Reach out!
Jobs
Compass Mining is hiring three positions in Austin, including a Director of Communications.
Upstream Data is hiring a Business Developer based in Texas
US Bitcoin Corp is hiring a Crypto Infrastructure Operations
Digital Wildcatters is hiring a Sales Account Manager in Houston
Marty Bent's TFTC is looking for a front-end developer to help implement a site-wide redesign. Requirements are experience building on Ghost and BTCPay Server.
Core Scientific is hiring in Austin, Denton, Pecos and Barstow
Rosseau is hiring a Data Center Manger ($120-$150k paid in USD and/or BTC) in Austin. Email talent at rosseau.io for more info.
Cormint Data Systems (Fort Bocks) is hiring a Data Center Technician in Fort Stockton
Bitmain is hiring a Mining Farm Operation Manager in Houston
Lighting Capital is hiring its first employee, an experienced Go developer to help Lightning node operators manage their Bitcoin capital.
Rhodium is hiring positions in Austin and Temple and an armed security officer in Rockdale.
Satoshi Energy is hiring 5 positions in Austin.
Argo Blockchain is hiring Mining Technicians, and Facility Electrical Engineers for its west Texas facility.
RIOT is hiring 2 positions in Austin, including Associate General Counsel.
Okcoin is hiring 3 positions based in Austin.
Poolin is hiring positions in Austin.
Unchained Capital is hiring for 15 positions based in Austin & Dallas.
Lancium is hiring positions based in The Woodlands and a Data Center Site Facilities Manager in Abilene.
NYDIG is hiring 7 roles in the Houston area.
Compass Mining is hiring in Austin
The Blockchain Association’s job board shows 68 Texas based jobs.
Bitcoiner Jobs shows 8 Texas based Bitcoin jobs.
People on the Move
Giga Chad Harris is heading to Navarro County to build RIOT’s just announced 1 GW Bitcoin mining facility.
Attorney Zack Shapiro joins Pleb Lab as a board member and will provide legal counsel to the Austin based Bitcoin accelerator.
Bitcoin Citadel
The 188 acre Oil Ranch is an incoming producing turn key property that includes 35 shallow wells and 100% mineral rights. The ranch’s coastal Bermuda covered land with scattered oaks offers excellent grazing for the resident cattle herd. Total 2021 oil produces was 885 barrels.
To Ponder While You Wander
“These small but powerful machines mark Fort Worth’s larger commitment to becoming a leading hub for technology and innovation” - Mayor Mattie Parker announcing Fort Worth as the first city in the United States to mine Bitcoin.