Focus at Four: Bitcoin mining company profits off Texas Grid
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin miner, made $32 million from power credits during the heat Texas experienced in August.
Adam Birchfield, an assistant professor at the Texas A&M Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, joined First News at Four today to discuss how a Bitcoin company could profit off the electrical grid in such a significant way.
“Through credits that are given in advance, there’s a day-ahead market, a real-time market, and a whole system of contracts in place. Power credits are related to that system,” said Birchfield.
The contracts that are in place are not public knowledge, so there is no real way to see how the companies are truly benefitting from their selective use of power.
“When there’s a time of a lot of stress on the electric grid, the more flexibility that a user of electric power has, the more valuable it can be because they can come offline when there’s a lot of stress on the grid. A lot of these benefits are related to the fact that crypto-currency is something that can be done at any time,” said Birchfield.
You can find the full interview in the video player above.
