Senator Ted Cruz asserts Texas should use Bitcoin mining for capturing wasted natural gas
Ted Cruz, US Senator, has recently expressed that he wishes the United States should utilize natural gas for mining Bitcoins instead of flaring it.
At the texas Blockchain Summit held on October 8, Senator Cruz spoke at length about the usage of natural gas in manufacturing Bitcoins, asserting that its mining can be useful in monetizing the energy created through oil and gas extraction, instead of just burning it. He also argued that there is an “enormous opportunity” for the Bitcoin market in capturing gas rather than just “wasting it.”
During his speech, Cruz also noted that over half of the natural gas that flared in the US is currently being burned in West Texas. It is being wasted due to the absence of any transmission equipment for getting that natural gas where it could potentially be used the way natural gas “would be ordinarily employed.”
Cruz endorsed the fact that while using natural gas power to mine Bitcoin, one is only “helping the environment enormously” by putting it into “productive use.”
Cruz has also stressed the total capacity for Bitcoin mining to be mobilized in response to the crucial fluctuations in energy supply, stating that all the energy can be instantly returned to the grid if a sudden power outage or shortage occurs.
Cruz predicted if the above is implemented, one would see a “dramatically different terrain” in Bitcoin mining in the coming “five years.” The mining process would play a significant role “in strengthening and hardening the resilience of the grid,” he said.
Cruz also highlighted the fact that Bitcoin has the potential to capture major unutilized energy across the globe where sunlight and wind breeze are in abundance. Still, no power lines running, but it isn’t “economically feasible to use that energy.”
Bitcoin mining has the upside that one can connect the web and utilize that energy to “derive value” from renewables in a manner that is “impossible otherwise.”
Ted Cruz is not the only one to believe in the power of Bitcoin mining in capturing renewable energy. El Salvador has recently announced plans for a state-backed Bitcoin mining project to harness renewable energy.
In the state of Texas, Bitcoin mining is emerging as a key industry after China’s crackdown on crypto trading firms starting May 2021. Many miners from China have opted for Texas for its cheap and abundant renewables, while others moved towards Norway, Canada and Kazakhstan to access inexpensive green electricity.
