Texas should utilize wasted natural gas for Bitcoin mining — Sen. Ted Cruz

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has shared his belief that the United States should rather be mining Bitcoin using natural gas instead of burning it.

Senator Ted Cruz shared his opinion while speaking at Texas Blockchain Summit on October 8. Cruz insisted that Bitcoin mining can be an avenue to make money from energy produced through oil and gas extraction rather than flaring it. He also argued further, that there is so much opportunity for Bitcoin to utilize that gas instead of wasting it.

According to a copy of the talk which was shared on social media by Coin Metrics founder Nic Carter, the Senator highlighted the fact that half of the natural gas being flared in the country is currently done in West Texas.  He also added that the wasting of the gas is probably due to lack of transmission equipment to transport the natural gas to where it could be used the effective way.

He didn’t stop there. Cruz advised that the power be used to mine Bitcoin, explaining that by doing it, “you’re helping the environment enormously.” This is particularly true because rather than burning the natural gas Texas will be putting it to better productive use.

Cruz also emphasized the capacity for Bitcoin mining to be mobilized in such a way that it could be used to cater to fluctuating energy supply. He explained this by stating that in cases of unexpected or sudden power shortage or outage, energy could be immediately returned to the grid.

Talking about the long run, Cruz believes that in a matter of five years, there would have been so much changes with regards to Bitcoin mining. Hoping that by then, Bitcoin mining will be playing a significant role in strengthening the grid.

Finally, the Senator added that the beauty of mining Bitcoin is that if one can connect to the internet, you can easily utilize that energy to derive value from renewables in a way that otherwise, would be absolutely impossible.