Riot Blockchain is building a staggering 265-acre site in Corsicana. The site will be dedicated to mining bitcoin and, at full capacity, is expected to have enough energy to power 750,000 households.
Corsicana is a small town in Navarro County, Texas with a population of 25,000. If you’re in Dallas, it’s an hour drive south.
If you haven’t heard of Riot Blockchain, it’s one of the world’s largest publicly traded bitcoin mining companies. According to the announcement, Riot is investing $333 million into the facility that’s expected to open in July 2023.
Also interesting is that Riot has joined forces with Priority Power, an energy solutions provider out of Arlington. Priority will provide assistance with utilities, power load services, and power purchase agreements.
Corsicana will not be the only facility Riot has in Texas. Construction for another facility is already underway in Rockdale. Rockdale is a small town located an hour south of Waco.
Rockdale became in play when Riot acquired fellow bitcoin mining company, Whinstone US, in a 2021 deal.
Analysis
Investment – whether directly or indirectly – into the cryptocurrency space is coming in droves and rapid action is following that money. Incredibly, this facility is expected to be completed just a year and two months after the near-May 2022 announcement.
Of course, one has to wonder about the effect on the Texas power grid. Just two winters ago, we all witnessed Ercot fail miserably while countless homes lost power and/or energy had to be rationed.
On the economic side, it’s great to see crypto-related businesses believe in the friendliness of Texas. The Texas Blockchain Council deserves a lot of credit for that. However, we’d like to see more conviction from the regulatory side / state government. A gigantic elephant in the room exists in that Binance is still banned in Texas while 46 other states allow their citizens to trade on the best exchange in the world.
