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Technicians make repairs to bitcoin mining machines at a mining facility operated by Bitmain in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2017.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

China has long been home to more than half the world’s bitcoin miners, but now, Beijing wants them out ASAP. 

In May, the government called for a severe crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading, setting off what’s being dubbed in crypto circles as “the great mining migration.” This exodus is underway now, and it could be a game changer for Texas.

Mining is the energy-intensive process which both creates new coins and maintains a log of all transactions of existing digital tokens. 

Despite a lack of reserves that caused days-long blackouts last winter, Texas often has some of the world’s lowest energy prices, and its share of renewables is growing over time, with 20% of its power coming from wind as of 2019. It has a deregulated power grid that lets customers choose between power providers, and crucially, its political leaders are very pro-crypto – dream conditions for a miner looking for a kind welcome and cheap energy sources.

“You are going to see a dramatic shift over the next few months,” said Brandon Arvanaghi, previously a security engineer at crypto exchange Gemini. “We have governors like Greg Abbott in Texas who are promoting mining. It is going to become a real industry in the United States, which is going to be incredible.”

China’s mining dominance

2021 data for the global distribution of mining power is not yet available, but past estimates have shown that 65% to 75% of the world’s bitcoin mining happened in China – mostly in four Chinese provinces: Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Sichuan and Yunnan’s hydropower make them renewable energy meccas, while Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are home to many of China’s coal plants. 

The drawdown in miners has already begun in Inner Mongolia. After failing to meet Beijing’s climate targets, province leaders decided to give bitcoin miners two months to clear out, explicitly blaming its energy misses on crypto mines. 

Castle Island Ventures founding partner Nic Carter says that while it’s not totally clear how China will handle next steps, it a phased rollout is likely. “It seems like we’re going from policy statement to actual implementation in relatively short order,” he said.

The way this exodus is measured is by looking at hashrate, an industry term used to describe the computing power of all miners in the bitcoin network.

“Given the drop in hashrate, it appears likely that installations are being turned off throughout the country,” continued Carter, who also thinks that probably 50 to 60% of bitcoin’s entire hashrate will ultimately leave China. 

Although China’s announcement hasn’t been cemented in policy, that isn’t stopping miners like Alejandro De La Torre from cutting their losses and making an exit.

“We do not want to face every single year, some sort of new ban coming in China,” said De La Torre, vice president of Hong Kong-headquartered mining pool, Poolin. “So we’re trying to diversify our global mining hashrate, and that’s why we are moving to the United States and to Canada.”

One of bitcoin’s greatest features is that it is totally location agnostic. Miners only require an internet connection, unlike other industries that must be relatively close to their end users. 

“The cool thing about bitcoin that is under appreciated by a lot of the naysayers is that it’s a portable market; you can bring it right to the source of energy,” explained Steve Barbour, founder of Upstream Data, a company that manufactures and supplies portable mining solutions for oil and gas facilities.

That said, the exodus won’t be instantaneous, in part, because it will take miners some time to either move their machines out of China or liquidate their assets and set up shop elsewhere. 

Where they’re going

Because miners at scale compete in a low-margin industry, where their only variable cost is typically energy, they are incentivized to migrate to the world’s cheapest sources of power. 

“Every Western mining host I know has had their phones ringing off the hook,” said Carter. “Chinese miners or miners that were domiciled in China are looking to Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the U.S., and Northern Europe.”

One likely destination is China’s next-door neighbor, Kazakhstan. The country’s coal mines provide a cheap and abundant energy supply. It also helps that Kazakhstan has a more lax attitude to building, which bodes well for miners who need to construct physical installations in a short period of time. 

Didar Bekbauov runs Xive, a company that provides hosting services to international miners. Xive also sells the specialized equipment needed for mining. 

Bekbauov says that he’s stopped counting the number of Chinese miners who have called him to ask about relocation options, ranging from operations with 15 rigs to thousands. 

“One miner told us that only government electricity plants have restricted mining and private ones will continue to service miners,” Bekbauov told CNBC. 

“But most of the electricity is generated by government power plants, so miners will have to move. That makes them uncertain and desperate to find other locations,” he said.

Whether Kazakhstan is a destination or simply a stopover on a longer migration west remains to be seen. 

Arvanaghi is bullish on North America and thinks the hashrate there will grow over the next few months.

“Texas not only has the cheapest electricity in the U.S. but some of the cheapest in the globe,” he said. “It’s also very easy to start up a mining company…if you have $30 million, $40 million, you can be a premier miner in the United States.”

Wyoming has also trended toward being pro-bitcoin and could be another mining destination, according to Arvanaghi.

There are, however, a few major limitations to the U.S. becoming a global mining destination.

For one, the lead time to build the actual physical infrastructure necessary to host miners is likely six to nine months, Carter told CNBC. “The U.S. probably can’t be as nimble as other countries in terms of onshoring these stray miners,” he said.

The move logistics may also prove difficult. There is a shipping container shortage, thanks to the tailwinds of the Covid pandemic. 

But perhaps the biggest question is the reliability of the Texas power grid. A storm that devastated large swaths of the state in 2020 has reignited a debate over whether Texas should winter-proof its systems, a potentially costly project that might affect taxes or other fees for those looking to tap into the state’s power grid. More recently, ERCOT, the organization that operates Texas’ grid, asked consumers to conserve energy amid what officials called an unusual number of “forced generation outages” and an upcoming heat wave.

Answering the Musk critique

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bashed bitcoin mining, claiming that it is bad for the environment. It’s not a new criticism.

For years, skeptics have maligned the world’s most popular digital token for polluting the planet, while supporters have extolled the virtues of bitcoin and its role in accelerating the rise of renewable energy. 

It is unclear whether the China mining exodus will make or break the case for bitcoin enthusiasts in the debate around the token’s carbon footprint. The dominant narrative, to date, has been that much of the world’s bitcoin is mined with Chinese goal. 

“From a narrative perspective, it’s definitely an improvement,” said Carter. “But China also has the most abundant stranded hydro resources in the world.”

The country offers significant energy vectors from wind, solar, and especially hydropower in the south. Xinjiang’s grid, for example, is 35% powered by wind and solar energy inputs.

If all the miners do end up leaving China, it will mean less fossil fuel-powered mining, but it will also mean that the network’s share of renewable energy-powered mining will drop. This is why the question of where these migrant miners end up could prove critical to bitcoin’s future. “It’s the biggest story of the year for bitcoin,” said Carter. 

De La Torre says they’re looking to expand operations using green energy, a trend that is already years in the making. He says that hydro plants are generally cheaper than fossil fuels in most parts of the world.

“Mining is price sensitive, so as to seek out the lowest cost power and the lowest cost power tends to be renewable because if you’re burning fossil fuels…it has extraction, refinement, and transport costs,” explained Blockstream CEO Adam Back. 

Lazard

Each year, investment bank Lazard releases a breakdown of energy costs by source. Its 2020 report shows that many of the most common renewable energy sources are either equal to or less expensive than conventional energy sources like coal and gas. And the cost of renewable power keeps going down.

But there are limitations to running crypto mines purely on renewable energy.

Though solar and wind are now the world’s least expensive energy sources, both power supplies face limitations at scale, so there is concern over the viability of miners turning exclusively to wind or solar energy.

Next six months

For the time being, there isn’t that much mining capacity worldwide that is ready to absorb the Chinese miner diaspora. While they scramble to find a new home, we could see hashrate go offline – and stay offline. 

In practice, that would mean all the remaining miners are more profitable for a period of time. 

Having more geographic dispersion would even out the global balance of power, and it would also reduce the ability of any one sovereign nation to co-opt or control the network.

We may also see special crypto economic zones pop up in the next few months.

“You will see jurisdictions adopting a very favorable stance and creating the equivalent of special zones to encourage miners to host locally,” said Carter. “We’re seeing it at the state level here. You’re also gonna see it at the country level, you might even see subsidized electricity for mining.”

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Mercedes-Benz opens its first DC fast charging hub at Starbucks

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3 hours ago

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November 25, 2025

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Mercedes-Benz opens its first DC fast charging hub at Starbucks

Mercedes-Benz charging Starbucks

Photo: Mercedes-Benz HPC North America

Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging and Starbucks have officially opened their first DC fast charging hub together, off the I-5 in Red Bluff, California.

The 400 kW Mercedes-Benz chargers are capable of adding up to 300 miles in 10 minutes, depending on the EV, and every stall has both NACS and CCS cables – they’re fully open DC fast chargers.

Mercedes-Benz HPC North America, a joint venture between subsidiaries of Mercedes-Benz Group and renewable energy producer MN8 Energy, first announced in July 2024 that it would install DC fast chargers at Starbucks stores along Interstate 5, the main 1,400-mile north-south interstate highway on the US West Coast from Canada to Mexico. Ultimately, Mercedes plans to install fast chargers at 100 Starbucks stores across the US.

Mercedes-Benz HPC opened its first North American charging site at Mercedes-Benz USA’s headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, in November 2023 as part of an initial $1 billion charging network investment. As of the end of 2024, Mercedes had deployed over 150 operational fast chargers in the US, but it hasn’t disclosed an official number of how many chargers are currently online.

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Andrew Cornelia, CEO of Mercedes-Benz HPC North America, is leaving the company at the end of the month to become global head of electrification & sustainability at Uber.

Read more: Mercedes-Benz is deploying 400 kW US-made EV fast chargers with CCS and NACS cables

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Tesla AI4 vs. NVIDIA Thor: the brutal reality of self-driving computers

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3 hours ago

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November 25, 2025

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Tesla AI4 vs. NVIDIA Thor: the brutal reality of self-driving computers


The race for autonomous driving has three fronts: software, hardware, and regulatory. For years, we’ve watched Tesla try to brute-force its way to “Full Self-Driving (FSD)” with its own custom hardware, while the rest of the automotive industry is increasingly lining up behind NVIDIA.

Now that we know Tesla’s new AI5 chip is delayed and won’t be in vehicles until 2027, it’s worth comparing the two most dominant “self-driving” chips today: Tesla’s latest Hardware 4 (AI4) and NVIDIA’s Drive Thor.

Here’s a table comparing the two chips with the best possible specs I could find. greentheonly’s teardown was particularly useful. If you find things you think are not accurate, please don’t hesitate to reach out:

Feature / Specification Tesla AI4 (Hardware 4.0) NVIDIA Drive Thor (AGX / Jetson)
Developer / Architect Tesla (in-house) NVIDIA
Manufacturing Process Samsung 7nm (7LPP class) TSMC 4N (custom 5nm class)
Release Status In production (shipping since 2023) In production since 2025
CPU Architecture ARM Cortex-A72 (legacy) ARM Neoverse V3AE (server-grade)
CPU Core Count 20 cores (5× clusters of 4 cores) 14 cores (Jetson T5000 configuration)
AI Performance (INT8) ~100–150 TOPS (dual-SoC system) 1,000 TOPS (per chip)
AI Performance (FP4) Not supported / not disclosed 2,000 TFLOPS (per chip)
Neural Processing Unit 3× custom NPU cores per SoC Blackwell Tensor Cores + Transformer Engine
Memory Type GDDR6 LPDDR5X
Memory Bus Width 256-bit 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth ~384 GB/s ~273 GB/s
Memory Capacity ~16 GB typical system Up to 128 GB (Jetson Thor)
Power Consumption Est. 80–100 W (system) 40 W – 130 W (configurable)
Camera Support 5 MP proprietary Tesla cameras Scalable, supports 8MP+ and GMSL3
Special Features Dual-SoC redundancy on one board Native Transformer Engine, NVLink-C2C

The most striking difference right off the bat is the manufacturing process. NVIDIA is throwing everything at Drive Thor, using TSMC’s cutting-edge 4N process (a custom 5nm-class node). This allows them to pack in the new Blackwell architecture, which is essentially the same tech powering the world’s most advanced AI data centers.  

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Tesla, on the other hand, pulled a move that might surprise spec-sheet warriors. Teardowns confirm that AI4 is built on Samsung’s 7nm process. This is mature, reliable, and much cheaper than TSMC’s bleeding-edge nodes.

When you look at the compute power, NVIDIA claims a staggering 2,000 TFLOPS for Thor. But there’s a catch. That number uses FP4 (4-bit floating point) precision, a new format designed specifically for the Transformer models used in generative AI.  

Tesla’s AI4 is estimated to hit around 100-150 TOPS (INT8) across its dual-SoC redundant system. On paper, it looks like a slaughter, but Tesla made a very specific engineering trade-off that tells us exactly what was bottling up their software: memory bandwidth.

Tesla switched from LPDDR4 in HW3 to GDDR6 in HW4, the same power-hungry memory you find in gaming graphics cards (GPUs). This gives AI4 a massive memory bandwidth of approximately 384 GB/s, compared to Thor’s 273 GB/s (on the single-chip Jetson config) using LPDDR5X.  

This suggests Tesla’s vision-only approach, which ingests massive amounts of raw video from high-res cameras, was starving for data.

Based on Elon Musk’s comments that Tesla’s AI5 chip will have 5x the memory bandwidth, it sounds like it might still be Tesla’s bottleneck.

Here is where Tesla’s cost-cutting really shows. AI4 is still running on ARM Cortex-A72 cores, an architecture that is nearly a decade old. They bumped the core count to 20, but it’s still old tech.  

NVIDIA Thor, meanwhile, uses the ARM Neoverse V3AE, a server-grade CPU explicitly designed for the modern software-defined vehicle. This allows Thor to run not just the autonomous driving stack, but the entire infotainment system, dashboard, and potentially even an in-car AI assistant, all on one chip.

Thor has found many takers, especially among Tesla EV competitors such as BYD, Zeekr, Lucid, Xiaomi, and many more.

Electrek’s Take

There’s one thing that is not in there: price. I would assume that Tesla wins on that front, and that’s a big part of the project. Tesla developed a chip that didn’t exist, and that it needed.

It was an impressive feat, but it doesn’t make Tesla an incredible leader in silicon for self-driving.

Tesla is maxing out AI4. It now uses both chips, making it less likely to achieve the redundancy levels you need to deliver level 4-5 autonomy.

Meanwhile, we don’t have a solution for HW3 yet and AI5 is apparently not coming to save the day until 2027.

By then, there will likely be millions of vehicles on the road with NVIDIA Thor processors.


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Velotric e-bikes get up to $750 increased Black Friday savings with new lows + extra battery bundles from $999, EcoFlow, more

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November 25, 2025

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Velotric e-bikes get up to 0 increased Black Friday savings with new lows + extra battery bundles from 9, EcoFlow, more


Taking the lead in today’s Green Deals is Velotric’s Black Friday Sale that has switched into a higher gear with increased savings and expanded FREE bundle sizes for a limited-time window, offering plenty of returning and new low prices. One notable standout is Velotric’s T1 ST Plus Lightweight Urban e-bike getting a FREE range extender battery ($400 value) at $1,299, among many others. Behind that, we have EcoFlow’s latest 24-hour Black Friday flash sale that is giving us some new low prices on various units, like the DELTA 2 Max hitting a new $799 low or a DELTA 3 Ultra solar home backup bundle, and others. There’s also Lectric’s XPeak 2.0 e-bike bundles that are close to selling out, holiday savings roundups on Worx and Husqvarna tools, and much more waiting for you below. And don’t forget about the hangover deals that are collected together at the bottom of the page, like yesterday’s Anker SOLIX 4-day Black Friday flash sale with new lows or the brand’s PowerCore Reserve at $80, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Velotric’s Black Friday Sale switches gears with up to $750 increased savings and new lows starting from $999

Velotric has switched its Black Friday Sale into a higher gear with increased savings, new low prices, and expanded bundle packages on its e-bike lineup for a short-term window through Cyber Monday – plus, the option to save 30% on three accessories. One notable expanded package is the Velotric T1 ST Plus Lightweight Urban e-bike, coming with a FREE range extender battery ($400 value) for $1,299 shipped. You’d have to pay $1,649 for the e-bike on its own without any discounts, with that extra battery running that price up to $2,049. The brand’s early Black Friday deal only offered $350 savings (with the bundle being a rear cargo rack), but for this short-term change-up, you’re getting $750 in total savings that returns the tag to the lowest price we have tracked in 2025. Head below to check out the full lineup of Velotric’s expanded Black Friday Sale savings.

One of my favorite options from Velotric’s lineup, the T1 ST Plus e-bike, is a lightweight commuter that weighs only 39 pounds, and if you’ve read any of my e-bike reviews, you know I often lean towards models that can be easily handled up and down my rather large stoop. It brings a more European-style minimalist elegance to your travels, though keep in mind this model doesn’t possess a throttle, so it’s all PAS action. The 350W rear hub motor (with a 600W peak) is paired with a 352.8Wh battery for up to 70 miles of assisted travel at up to 20/28 MPH top speeds, depending on your local laws. What’s more, with the range extender battery, which connects right to this bike’s frame, boosts your pedal-assisted travel up to 100 miles in total, giving you serious commuting power.

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It comes with a nice lineup of features, too, but of course, I have to shout out the Apple Find My inclusion for the added peace of mind. From there, you’ll also be getting double hydraulic disc brakes, puncture-resistant tires, an 8-speed Shimano derailleur, an integrated LED auto-on headlight, a 3.5-inch LCD screen for setting adjustments that also has a USB port to charge up devices, and more.

Velotric’s new Black Friday Sale e-bike deals:

  • Fold 1 Step-Thru Folding e-bike (new low): $999 (Reg. $1,499)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 55 miles
    • comes with FREE suspension seat post upgrade ($120 value)
  • Nomad 1 Plus Off-Road e-bike (new low): $1,249 (Reg. $1,899)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 55 miles
    • comes with FREE rear cargo rack ($69 value)
  • T1 ST Plus Lightweight e-bike: $1,299 (Reg. $1,649)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 70 miles (100 miles with battery bundle)
    • comes with FREE range extender battery ($400 value)
  • Fold 1 Plus Folding e-bike: $1,399 (Reg. $1,499)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 68 miles
    • comes with FREE suspension seat post and rear rack pannier bag ($195 value)
  • Breeze 1 Cruiser e-bike (back at low): $1,699 (Reg. $1,799)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 70 miles
    • comes with FREE rear cargo rack, fender set, and front basket ($270 value)
  • Discover 2 Step-Thru Commuter e-bike: $1,799 (Reg. $1,999)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 75 miles
    • comes with FREE suspension seat post and front basket ($240 value)
  • Summit 1 Versatile e-bike (back at low): $1,799 (Reg. $1,999)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 70 miles
    • comes with FREE rear cargo rack and fender set ($160 value)
  • Nomad 2 Fat Tire e-bike (new low): $1,799 (Reg. $1,999)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 65 miles
    • comes with rack top bag ($96 value)
  • Nomad 2X Multi-Terrain Full Suspension e-bike (back at low): $2,299 (Reg. $2,399)
    • 20/28 MPH for up to 75 miles
    • comes with FREE rack top bag ($96 value)

You can browse Velotric’s upgraded Black Friday Sale deals on the main landing page here.

man enjoying coffee while camping with EcoFlow DELTA 2 max power station

EcoFlow Black Friday flash sale drops DELTA 2 Max power station to new $799 low ($600 off) + other bundles from $698

As part of its phase 3 Black Friday Sale event, EcoFlow has launched a 24-hour flash sale that is taking up to 61% off four offers, with a notable deal on the DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station at $799 shipped, which beats out Amazon’s pricing by $100. While it carries an $1,899 MSRP, you’ll more often find it going for $1,399 these days, with the discounts we’ve been seeing in the latter half of 2025 regularly dropping things lower between $999 and $899. Now, for only 24 hours, you can pick it up $100 lower than we’ve ever tracked, giving you a total $600 off the going rate ($1,100 off the MSRP) for the lowest new price we have tracked.

***Note: some of these flash sale offers might start at higher prices, but for this 24-hour period, they have been given automatic discounts to these rates that activate in your cart.

EcoFlow’s 24-hour Black Friday flash sale offers:

man and woman riding Lectric XPeak 2.0 e-bikes down trail

Upgrade off-road commutes and adventures with Lectric’s XPeak 2.0 e-bikes and up to $583 in FREE gear from $1,499

As part of its ongoing Black Friday Sale, which is starting to show models running out of stock from the offers of up to $893 in savings across e-bike bundles. During this sale, Lectric’s XPeak 2.0 Long-Range Off-Road e-bikes are seeing the largest bundles of the year with $583 in FREE gear joining your purchase at $1,699 shipped. You’ll also find Lectric’s standard XPeak 2.0 Off-Road e-bikes coming with $434 in FREE gear at $1,499 shipped. These packages would normally cost $2,282 and $1,933 in full if not for the discounts on the bundles, which are the largest we’ve seen for the long-range models. The standard e-bikes come with a rear cargo rack, fender set, Elite headlight upgrade, a suspension seat post, a bike lock, and a phone holder, while the long-range counterparts get those, as well as a 5A fast charger that “is 250% faster, allowing you to power up in approximately 4 hours or less.” Head below to more on these all-terrain e-mobility solutions.

Lectric’s Black Friday XPeak 2.0 e-bike bundles:

Be sure to also check out Lectric’s full Black Friday Sale e-bike lineup with up to $893 in savings starting from $999, which, as I mentioned, is already seeing models go out of stock.

Worx Black Friday banner with different tools
woman trimming grass with Husqvarna tools

Best Fall EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.


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