Lee Bratcher – president of the Texas Blockchain Council – said in a recent interview he wants his state to become the biggest blockchain haven in the United States. He further mentioned that he would like his Texas to become the Silicon Valley of blockchain.

The Texas Mining Agenda Keeps Growing

The state’s 88th legislative session has been quite productive. Thus far, one crypto law has passed already, while many others are waiting in the wings (passage is expected on several). The goal is to ensure the region remains attractive to miners, which have been heading into Texas for the past two years ever since China announced the practice was illegal. Bratcher said:

The microchip was invented in 1958, but that technology was monetized in California. Texas is not going to let that happen again. Texas will be the Silicon Valley of the digital asset industry.

China said it would no longer allow digital currency mining in the summer of 2021. The idea was that new rules had emerged from Beijing, and the rest of the country was seeking to comply and become greener in its energy endeavors. Many companies were forced to either shut down completely or go to other regions.

Several chose to focus on Texas given it has vast open spaces and low energy costs. The mining migration of the last two years allowed Texas to grow its economy, while several new jobs have opened. Overall, things have been relatively positive. However, there have been issues in that now energy usage in the state has expanded tenfold, and this has prevented some residents from garnering access to the electricity they need to power their homes.

One of the bills designed to tackle this issue was Senate Bill 1929, which passed without much opposition. The idea is to get most mining companies to register with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) so that they’re more transparent regarding their energy. Bratcher said:

We did vocally support SB 1929, which requires large flexible loads over 75 megawatts to register certain details about their load with the grid operator ERCOT. This bill will prove helpful in strengthening the communication between ERCOT and bitcoin miners.

Making Things Safe for Traders

Another bill, HB 1666, puts pressure on crypto exchanges to be clear about how many funds they have in their reserves and to keep all customers safe. Texas director of Public Citizen Adrian Shelley explained:

From our perspective, what you’re doing here is getting a new value stream to the industry that is otherwise starting to be priced out of the market… This is an industry that’s not bringing clear or tangible value into a state, [whereas] it’s got all of these exotic mechanisms for extracting value out of it.

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