'There's a lot less land to go around' — why White Rock established off-the-grid mining in Texas
Amid many cryptocurrency mining firms in Texas scaling down operations to reduce the load on the power grid, at least one company set up miners not quite as affected by the state’s energy requirements during extreme heat.
In June, White Rock Management expanded its crypto mining operations to Texas — its first in the United States — but reported its facility in the Brazos Valley region would mine Bitcoin (BTC) using “environmentally responsible” methods. While the firm’s mining operations in Sweden used hydroelectric power, White Rock CEO Andy Long told Cointelegraph that its Texas facility was “off grid”, powered only by natural gas that would otherwise be burned.
“The U.S. is where the action is in terms of markets, so we plan to be in at least another couple of states as well as Texas with some diversified offering — it won’t all be off grid,” said Long.
The White Rock CEO said major storm systems capable of knocking out power supplies — of which Texas has had no shortage in the crypto era — played a role in the company’s decision to rely on flared gas for mining, but said it would explore “a mixture of different power sources” as it expanded to different U.S. states, including hydroelectric and nuclear. According to Long, the Texas facility would have a 10-megawatt capacity “in the next month or two” and had already passed a total hashrate of 1 exahash per second.
New York was a less appealing option for White Rock to first expand to the U.S. given the regulatory environment was “sending the wrong message," according to Long. State lawmakers have pushed for legislation that would ban proof-of-work mining.
Did you hear? White Rock Management launched our first U.S. #bitcoin mining operations in Texas’ Brazos Valley
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