Bitcoin mining grows in the Lone Star State
No longer an energy hog, it now looks to be an energy solution in Texas
Ever heard of Marathon Digital? It's a publicly traded Bitcoin mining company. You ever thought of the idea of mining bitcoin? All you need is a computer. Well, Marathon Digital just bought some new computers - 78,000 of them. They spent $900 million on these computers. Marathon is just one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies. It's estimated that overall they're producing a total of 3000 bitcoins last year, worth over $150 million. That's way higher than 2020 production of over 300 bitcoins. US mining companies have jointly ordered a million machines for delivery this year. So I'm not sure if it's worthwhile for you to try to engage in bitcoin mining yourself, but you can buy the stock in a bitcoin mining company.
Ric Edelman: Texas Governor Greg Abbott is inviting Bitcoin miners to help him stabilize Texas's electrical grid. Bitcoin mining has been criticized for being energy intensive, but Texas views Bitcoin mining as a solution to its energy problems. The governor asks Bitcoin miners to pause when there's a surge in energy demand, like during winter storms. Few other businesses can turn themselves off like Bitcoin miners can. So it's a new and different twist. Bitcoin Mining, instead of being an energy hog, it's now being viewed as an energy solution. I'm really excited about this because I'm going to be in Texas in June. We're hosting the DACFP Vision Conference for Financial Advisors, a deep dive into digital assets. And as part of the conference we're taking everybody to a Bitcoin mining farm outside of Austin. We're really looking forward to that. It's going to be a ton of fun. Texas has got a lot of folks engaged in Bitcoin mining. So does New York. So does Kentucky. Illinois doesn't want to be left out. There's a law being proposed in Illinois that would offer a tax incentive to encourage Bitcoin miners to move into Illinois. Miners would have to invest at least $250 Million, create at least 20 jobs and be carbon neutral. Further illustration that this is not only mainstream, local and state governments are opening their arms, welcoming the crypto community. In fact, 46% of the global Bitcoin network is now sustainable energy. According to the Bitcoin Mining Council and a Galaxy Digital, 80% of their crypto mining is from renewable energy. So folks who used to be saying that bitcoin is bad for the environment, that is proving to be less and less true every day.