Texas Power Outages Weren’t Caused By Bitcoin Mining, Says Expert

The Texas power outages weren’t caused by the bitcoin mining operations as one expert, Kristy-Leigh Minehan explained that the state doesn’t have enough mining hardware to cause major problems to the power supply so let’s read more in our latest Bitcoin news.

Many Texans are still suffering from the winter storm aftermath which left millions without power and water for days but it is unlikely that the mining farms in the state had something to do with the crisis. Minehan who is a mining consultant and chief technology officer at NEM Software said that the Texas power outages weren’t caused by the mining processes as the state doesn’t have enough mining hardware in operation to cause huge problems in the power grid when compared to regions like Sichuan.

According to Minehan, the german BTC mining operator Northern Data was the only one that had a huge impact on the power supply as the company owns a mining farm in East Texas with others being settled in West Texas. The mining expert added that the hashrate in the state was not enough to disrupt the energy grid which includes farms that power rigs by using excess gas as a byproduct of mining oil. Minehan continued that most mining farms in the state are powered by renewable energy and coal but they are still dependent on the energy grid as they have access to generators when needed.

The effects of the disaster on the BTC hash rate were rather insignificant when compared to the one in China whose miners control more than a half of the hashing power. Minehan noted that the hash rate dropped 10 exhashes per second in the snowstorm which is not more than the typical fluctuations on a daily basis. The blockchain data shows that the hashrate dropped from 160 million to 150 million following the coldest night of the storm.

Minehan opined that it was unlikely for mining companies in North America to take the lead on the global hashrate without having access to supply lines, and said that Intel as the biggest industry player is getting deeper into developing mining chips that will turn the tide. However, Right now, China is still the stronghold because of direct access to mining rig manufacturers.