Week in BTX: November 18, 2021
Remember to orange pill your family over Thanksgiving! Price of BTC was $16,000 last Thanksgiving......
Thanks to a viral tweet about the most loved/hated US Senator in America new subscribers have come flooding in, welcome to Week in BTX!
Seriously though, the Bitcoin and crypto communities love to love Senator Ted Cruz and love to hate him. Lots of left of center Bitcoiners are struggling to come to terms with supporting something that Senator Cruz is doing, and many others are too closed minded to embrace it, even though its good for the community.
Based on the replies to the tweet, we are still early. So many uninformed keyboard warriors trying to spread 2017 FUD about energy use and money laundering.
General
Houstonian Tilman Fertitta continues to integrate Bitcoin into his business empire. His restaurant empire, Landrys, recently announced a partnership with NYDIG to power a bitcoin loyalty rewards program for the millions of customers in Landry's loyalty program - Landry's Select Club. Now Tilman Feritta announced that the gem of his empire, the Houston Rockets, partnered with NYDIG to enable bitcoin rewards and payment options for Houston Rockets fans and associates.
The naming rights for the home of the San Antonio Spurs is up for grabs. Who thinks that Unchained Capital Arena sounds like a good name?
Public Policy/Politics/Regulatory
Jake Chervinsky, the Blockchain Associations new Head of Policy, lays out the good, the bad and the ugly of the various efforts to fix the infrastructure bill’s bad crypto provisions, including Senator Ted Cruz’s bill. Read his tweet thread, filled with great information.
Texas Congressman Kevin Brady joined a bipartisan group led by Congressman Patrick McHenry and Tim Ryan and proposed a comprehensive fix to the infrastructure bill. This is the bill to watch and put effort behind. See Jake’s tweet storm for why.
Mining
Riot releases Q3 2021 results, including having 27,270 miners deployed and 11,500 S19J Pro Antminers in the process of being shipped.
Riot Whinstone’s Chad “High Energy” Harris continues to share epic videos of Whinstone’s huge expansion of their Rockdale, Texas mining facility. Latest video shows the 700 MW substation that is the largest in North America.
Alcoa Corp has sold the Sandow Ranch for $240 million, home the Riot Whinstone Bitcoin mining facility, to SLR Property I LP which is associated with Xebec, a Dallas-based real estate development and investment management firm. Local rumors are that the new owners will continue to attract data centers/miners, industrial, solar and new residential subdivisions to the 31,000 acre property.
Events
Austin BitDevs November 18, 2021 (TONIGHT)
Houston Bitcoin Meetup November 22, 2021
Bitcoin Block Party in Austin December 2, 2021
Bitcoin2022 Conference April 6-9, 2022 in Miami (10% off with code TEXAS10)
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
BitBlockBoom August 25-28, 2022, in Austin
Jobs
Unchained Capital is hiring for 17 positions based in Austin.
Lancium LLC (Bitcoin Miner) is hiring 8 positions based in The Woodlands and Houston.
NYDIG is hiring 4 roles in the Houston area.
The Blockchain Association’s job board shows 54 Texas based jobs.
People on the Move
Send me your career moves!
Bitcoin Citadel
The 5,481 acres Tijerina Ranch is a luxurious south Texas recreational hunting and cattle ranch. The ranch is well watered with numerous wells. There are three ponds, ranging from about one to four acres, that provide ample drinking water to wildlife and livestock. Over 85% of the rolling topography that makes up this expansive ranch is covered in dense and diverse native brush. Wildlife is in abundance with the area being known for excellent quail, Whitetail, Rio Grande Turkey, dove, and hogs, as well as some exotic species.
To Ponder While You Wander
“Proud that Texas is becoming an oasis for the blockchain community, for Bitcoin miners, and for innovators in the crypto world. Unfortunately, the one thing that is capable of screwing all of this up is the United States Congress” - US Senator Ted Cruz