Week in BTX: Operation Choke Point 2.0 Attacks "Crypto"
Federal Government is coming for "Crypto," while States like Mississippi and Texas Fight Back
Welcome to the "Week in BTX," the first and most widely read (and likely only 😂😂😂) newsletter covering all things Bitcoin and Texas.
The US federal government has launched Operation Crypto Choke Point 2.0 targeting the crypto industry. Operation Choke Point stems back to President Obama’s administration attempt in 2013 to pressure financial institutions to cut off banking services to politically disfavored businesses like payday lenders and firearms dealers and manufactures.
Recently President Biden’s administration has dusted off the Obama administration’s playbook and is now using the banking sector to attack the crypto industry in a highly coordinated way across numerous federal agencies. Operation Crypto Choke Point 2.0 aims to cut off crypto businesses from banking, strand stable coins with no offramp and shut exchanges off from the banking system.
While “crypto” is the target of these federal regulatory efforts, Bitcoin is lumped in with crypto in the eyes of the regulators and will face the same headwinds as crypto if the Biden administration is successful.
Expect to see more states, like Mississippi recently did, pushing back against this federal overreach by advancing legislation affirming the right of the state, residents and businesses to buy, own, hold your own keys, transact and mine Bitcoin.
The Texas Legislature is expected to introduce legislation soon protecting Bitcoin.
One day Bitcoin and crypto will not be tied to the hip in the eyes of regulators, but we are not there yet. More work to do.
Digital Wildcatter’s Empower Bitcoin is the only bitcoin mining event with a focus on energy — bringing together energy, mining, finance, and other professionals in the city that powers the world. Empower Bitcoin is March 8-9, 2023 in Houston. Use “BTX” for 10% off all tickets.
General
Bear Market Vibes: Bitcoin ATM operator Coin Cloud files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, no crypto ads during this years Super Bowl and Local Bitcoins, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, shuts down.
Skinny jean wearing lawyer, Bitcoin miner and podcaster Justin Ballard goes to White Castle with Kal Penn of Harold & Kumar fame to discuss how Bitcoin mining can stabilize the Texas grid while using surplus energy.
Morning Consult released a poll showing that despite the bear market and global distrust in crypto rising due to recent events, adoption of cryptocurrency nevertheless remains relatively high.
“In 18 of 42 countries where Morning Consult surveys on the issue, at least 1 in 5 adults reported being crypto users in 2022. As expected, low- and lower-middle-income countries in our sample have much higher average adoption rates as a share of the general population (35%) than upper-middle-income and high-income countries (19%).”
Public Policy/Politics/Regulatory
The Mississippi State Senate passed a bill, SB 2603, protecting the right to run a node and mine Bitcoin. Next up it heads to the Mississippi House for consideration. The Texas Legislature is expected to consider similar legislation.
“It shall be legal in the State of Mississippi to run a node for the purpose of home digital asset mining” and “operate a digital asset mining business”
Senator Ted Cruz reintroduced the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act to protect businesses and consumers from federal regulators using coercion and undue influence to arbitrarily force banking institutions to terminate business relationships with legal businesses solely because those businesses are engaged in industries that the political left disfavors, such as energy producers and the Bitcoin industry.
Mining
Digital Wildcatters started a new podcast, Energizing Bitcoin, with hosts Justin Ballard and Jake Corley. They have brought on pioneers of the Bitcoin mining industry with a heavy emphasis on Texas entrepreneurs like Gideon Powell, Griffin Haby, Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh.
Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall stepped down from the company. The struggling Bitcoin miner managed to prevent bankruptcy at the end of 2022 after agreeing to sell its Texas based mining facility Helios.
Riot’s Rockdale, Texas bitcoin mining facility suffered damage from the December winter storms resulting in 17,040 miners (about 2.5 EH/s hash rate capacity) being offline.
Bitcoin miner BitNile is moving 6,572 miners from the Texas based Wolf Hollow hosting facility to its facility in Michigan as a result of the Sept. 2022 Compute North bankruptcy filing that resulted in the facility no longer being “economically viable.”
Bitcoin miners Hut 8 Mining Corp. and US Bitcoin Corp. are merging in an all-stock deal. The combined company will have a market cap of about $990 million and access to about 825 megawatts of gross energy across six sites, including Texas.
Events
Austin BitDevs Feb. 16, 2023
Fort Bitcoin Feb. 21, 2023 in Fort Worth
BitBlockBoom Dallas Bitcoin Meetup Feb. 24, 2023
BitBlockBoom Fort Worth Bitcoin Meetup March 8, 2023
Digital Wildcatter’s Empower Bitcoin March 8-9, 2023 in Houston. Use “BTX” for 10% off all tickets.
Satoshi Action Fund Dinner March 9, 2023 in Houston
Dallas Bitcoin Meetup March. 9 2023
Round Rock Bitcoin Meetup March 9, 2023
Austin BitDevs March 16, 2023
SXSW Bitcoin Takeover March 17, 2023 at the Bitcoin Commons in Austin
bitcoin ++ a dev layer 2 conference April 28-30, 2023 in Austin
Bitcoin 2023 May 18-20, 2023 in Miami. Use “TEXASBITCOIN” for 10% off all tickets.
Mining Disrupt July 26-27, 2023 in Miami. Use “TEXASBITCOINALLIANCE” for 20% off tickets. applied.
BitBlockBoom August 24-27, 2023, in Austin. Use “WeekInBTX” for 10% off all tickets.
Texas Blockchain Council’s Texas Blockchain Summit Nov. 15-16 in Fort Worth.
East Texas Bitcoin Alliance Meetup (Join the facebook group for details)
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
US Bitcoin Corp is hiring a Miner Technician in Granbury
Bitmain is “urgently hiring” Data Center Operators in Pecos
Giga Energy is hiring a Welder in the Beaumont area
Compass Mining is hiring a facility technician in Dallas
Riot is hiring Operations Manager, Electrical Field Engineer and IT Technicians in Rockdale and Corsicana
Poolin is hiring IT Technicians in Pecos
Core is hiring Finance, accounting and operations positions in Austin
The Blockchain Association’s job board shows 17 Texas based jobs
Bitcoiner Jobs shows 5 Texas based Bitcoin jobs
People on the Move
Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall stepped down from the company. Chief Operating Officer Seif El-Bakly has been appointed as interim CEO and Matthew Shaw will take over as the board chairman.
Bitcoin Marketplace
I am considering adding a “Bitcoin Marketplace” section to the newsletter. Send me your feedback on this idea and what types of products and services you would find valuable. Reach out if you have something you want to list or are in search of.
Bitcoin Citadel: Bear Market Edition
The 25 acre Cinco K River Ranch is on the market for about 61 Bitcoin. The ranch has gorgeous Llano river frontage, large rock outcroppings on the lower half and tremendous views of the entire river valley on the north side with its 80 rise in elevation change from the river.
To Ponder While You Wander
“We see several potential explanations for persistent crypto adoption despite collapsing trust globally…..some evidence points to the preservation of savings in capital-restrictive, high-inflation environments as one use case. Accordingly, Argentina and Turkey, both countries with high inflation rates and foreign exchange controls, see high levels of grassroots cryptocurrency adoption.” - Morning Consult