Fort Worth, Texas, is looking to gain a first-mover advantage as it sets up three computers to mine bitcoin in the information wing of the city hall. The US city undertook this project in collaboration with the Texas Blockchain Council and mining pool Luxor Technologies to establish itself as a technology hub.
The Fort Worth City Council, led by Mayor Mattie Parker, unanimously decided to approve a resolution to mine bitcoin and add it to the city’s balance sheet. This is a first for a city in the United States.
Texas as a pioneer in bitcoin mining
Initially, the project will not prioritize profits but will allow the city to enjoy being a pioneer in the mining of bitcoin. In a conversation with Councilman Michael D. Crain on why he voted yes, he said Fort Worth has always played a leading role in a variety of industries, including tech. With the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies, this move should demonstrate that fort worth is once again at the forefront of innovation and committed to breakthrough economic developments.
“This is outside the box for any government, right? Usually, things move at a snail’s pace, and in Fort Worth, we want to do things differently, and kind of elbow our way into the room.” - Mattie Parker, Fort Worth Mayor
Alex Brammer, Vice-President of Luxor mining, believes that such mining setups could help steady the grid throughout the transition to renewable energy. In the future, it could be that bitcoin mines sit alongside industrial-scale battery storage to provide grid-firming services. Further this could prevent blackouts and other interruptions to the grid caused by the edition of intermittent wind and solar generation. In this context, it would make sense for cities to start to fund and build large-scale mining infrastructures for themselves.
Future prospects for the bitcoin mining project
The Texas Blockchain Council donated three Bitmain Antiminer S19 mining computers to the city that will run all day, every day for six months. After that, the city will decide whether to invest its own cash in building out a mining farm.
Should it come to that, it would be interesting to see how many computers will be deployed since the number of bitcoins earned is generally proportional to the amount of computing power brought to the pool and the cost of running those computers. It also remains to be seen whether Fort Worth, like Miami, can reduce the tax burden on its residents by generating funds from mining cryptocurrency.
