Senator Ted Cruz has proposed using the energy produced in oil and gas extraction to mine Bitcoin. He said this during a speech at the Texas Blockchain Summit.
“Use this energy to mine Bitcoin. The beauty is that you will greatly help the environment, because you will be using natural gas for productive operation,” the politician explained.
According to the senator, about half of the volume of flared natural gas in the United States comes from West Texas. The resource is wasted due to the lack of equipment to utilise it, he added.
Cruz noted that Bitcoin has the ability to “absorb gas instead of burning it” to extract value and protect the environment. In the senator’s view, this approach could be applied worldwide.
The politician also noted the possibility for miners to respond to demand and return energy to the grid when needed.
In May 2021, American mining company Marathon Digital Holdings announced the construction of a data center in Texas with a capacity of 300 MW. The new facility is planned to be 70% carbon-neutral.
Earlier, El Salvador began mining the first cryptocurrency using geothermal energy.
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