Can crypto mining companies survive during an energy crisis? [52]
Riot blockchain paused during the heatwave and still made bank
Good afternoon, friends!
Part of the news this week is that Riot Blockchain, which has a major cryptocurrency operation in Texas, paused its operations during the massive heatwave last month and was rewarded by the state for selling energy back to the grid.
When mother nature turned up the heat, Riot scaled back its operations and cut back a total of 11,717 megawatt-hours. This lowered energy consumption provided the company with energy credits for the electricity that it did not use and it was thus rewarded by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
"As energy demand in ERCOT reached all-time highs this past month, the company voluntarily curtailed its energy consumption in order to ensure that more power would be available in Texas," Riot Blockchain CEO Jason Les said.
The energy credits netted the company approximately $9.5 million in revenue or approximately 439 BTC worth. This made up for what Riot lost in shutting down operations in that period of time.
This was possible because Riot bought electricity from the grid ahead of time-based on expected consumption during the month of July and did not use it during that time and thus received the credits for selling it back.
Presumably, more energy-efficient facilities that house their own renewable capabilities could go even further in the future.
Such as those that are building banks of solar power arrays and batteries to offset their energy usage. This could be possible when the mining facility planned by Blockstream and Jack Dorsey’s Block is built. Featuring Tesla’s 3.8 megawatt solar PV arrays and 12 megawatt-hour Megapacks to power its rigs, it could literally give electricity back to the grid during peak hours.
The proposition for this facility is that it would become a 100% emission-free operation, but the potential for it to also additionally support the ERCOT grid with additional electricity could be a bonus during extreme conditions such as what happened recently.
Riot was not the only company to pause operations during the heatwave in order to reduce the load on the beleaguered Texas energy grid, which saw a greatly increased demand during the record heat wave.
Keep reading for a short rundown of the news and the full news is below the fold as usual. See everyone next week — so stay tuned for more news!
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Blockchain Bulletin
Bitcoin miner Riot made $9.5M by pausing operations during the Texas heatwave. Riot Blockchain made a profit by turning off machines during the Texas heatwave to the tune of $9.5 million through earned power credits, reported Decrypt.
Earthfund social crowdfunding platform partners with CoinShift for treasury management. EarthFund and CoinShift partner up to allow philanthropic causes easier crypto treasury management for crowdfunding DAOs, reported PYMNTS.com.
Blockchain Behind the Scenes
A look at the recently released Bitmain Antminer S19 XP. Bitmain recently released the Antminer S19 XP cryptocurrency mining rig and taking a look at its profitability in cost-for-hash the miner is possibly one of the most efficient around.
Crypto miners in Kosovo face further bans during rising energy costs. The Eastern-European country of Kosovo has reinstated a previous ban on crypto mining in the face of rising energy costs, the ban, which lasts only two months, could be extended by another six.
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