[HN Gopher] Ted Cruz says Bitcoin will stabilize Texas electric ...
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       Ted Cruz says Bitcoin will stabilize Texas electric grid-here's why
       he's wrong
        
       Author : daenney
       Score  : 11 points
       Date   : 2021-10-13 20:38 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | randomhodler84 wrote:
       | I don't like Ted Cruz, but he might be right about this. The
       | article makes a model with today's prices, which are hard to
       | validate -- I suspect if we start mining at grid level energies
       | it is going other places... The economic incentives are clear and
       | have not changed since 2009. What may happen is what was
       | predicted many years ago.
        
       | AzzieElbab wrote:
       | Sounds exactly like Balaji Srinivasan idea
        
       | gotjustchilly wrote:
       | The author makes 2 arguments, one is correct, the other is wrong.
       | 1) the infrastructure built for bitcoin wouldn't necessarily be
       | weatherized, which was why much of it failed earlier this year.
       | True. 2) Texas has a system to change market prices for wholesale
       | electricity, so price scales up when demand is high / supply is
       | low. Author seems to know this but comes to the wrong conclusion.
       | Most/residents businesses choose flat rate pricing so demand
       | doesn't drop when supply does. BTC miners would absolutely choose
       | variable pricing (which is cheaper most of the time, and reduce
       | mining when prices spike, freeing up that power for the essential
       | parts of the grid.
        
       | heybrendan wrote:
       | https://archive.ph/6cI2F
        
       | throwawaymanbot wrote:
       | Elon, oh Elon... Ted is a fool.
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-13 23:02 UTC)