This map shows the best states for bitcoin mining

Published

3 years ago

October 1, 2021

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Global Energy Institute

2021 has been a great year for bitcoin mining in America as new talent — and equipment — flood the market, but some states are definitely more appealing destinations than others.

The latest data from the Global Energy Institute shows the average price of electricity is lowest in states including Texas and Washington, which certainly jibes with the fact that both states are increasingly hot destinations for minting new digital coins.

While the cost of power isn’t everything when deciding where to set up shop, it sure goes a long way.

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

The price of power across the U.S. varies.

In California and Connecticut you will pay anywhere from 18 to 19 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas in Texas, Wyoming, Washington, and Kentucky, you will pay less than half that, according to the Global Energy Institute, which puts out an annual electricity price map of the country, using the most recent full year of data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The institute does warn, however, that “while the energy mix available within a state will play a large role in state electricity prices, energy-limiting policies in some states act to artificially elevate prices, making the price of electricity much higher for consumers and businesses.”

Ultimately, what bitcoin miners care about most is finding cheap sources of electricity.

This is part of why the U.S. proves especially appealing to prospective miners, given the country is home to some of the cheapest sources of energy on the planet, many of which tend to be renewable.

Fred Thiel, CEO of cryptocurrency mining specialist Marathon Digital Holdings, expects most new miners relocating to North America to be powered by renewables, or gas that is offset by renewable energy credits.

“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,” Blockstream CEO Adam Back said.

Washington state is a mecca for hydropowered mining farms, while Texas’ share of renewables is growing over time, with 20% of its power coming from wind as of 2019.

Electricity costs, however, aren’t everything. Friendly policymakers and sufficient infrastructure are also key factors.

Take Texas.

It has a deregulated power grid that lets customers choose between power providers, and crucially, its political leaders are 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 bitcoin mining engineer Brandon Arvanaghi. “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.”

The U.S. has also spent years investing in cryptomining infrastructure, long before it was popular.

When bitcoin crashed in late 2017 and the wider market entered a multiyear cryptocurrency winter, there wasn’t much demand for big bitcoin farms. U.S. mining operators saw their opening and jumped at the chance to deploy cheap money to build up the mining ecosystem in the States.

“The large, publicly traded miners were able to raise capital to go make big purchases,” said Mike Colyer, CEO of digital currency company Foundry, which helped bring over $300 million of mining equipment into North America.

Companies like North American cryptomining operator Core Scientific kept building hosting space all through the depths of the period so that they had the capacity to plug in new gear, according to Colyer. Core, which has operations in North Dakota, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, is one of the largest providers of blockchain infrastructure and hosting in North America.

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Tesla (TSLA) insider trading: Elon’s friend James Murdoch just unloaded $13 million

Published

2 hours ago

March 10, 2025

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Tesla (TSLA) insider trading: Elon's friend James Murdoch just unloaded million

James Murdoch, a Tesla board member and friend of CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed that he sold about $13 million in stock today as the stock (TSLA) crashed.

There has been a lot of insider trading at Tesla lately, and by trading, we mean selling – cause no insider is ever buying at Tesla.

We recently reported on Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Taneja Vaibhav recently selling ahead of a recent drop in the company’s stock price.

Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, also sold $33 million worth of Tesla shares last week and over $100 million in the last 3 months.

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Now, it’s James Murdoch’s turn. The Tesla board member just confirmed, through a required SEC filing, that he sold 54,776 Tesla shares for just over $13 million today:

He sold as Tesla’s stock crashed 15% today. It is now down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.

Murdoch was appointed to Tesla’s board in 2017.

He is better known as the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.

Murdoch was one of the Tesla board directors who was forced to return almost $1 billion in cash and stock options to Tesla as part of a settlement for over-compensation.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla insiders are unloading, and those are just the ones we know about. Public companies only have to report insider trading for board directors and listed top executives.

For the latter, Tesla purposefully only lists 3 people: Elon, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s CFO, and Tom Zhu, whose role at Tesla has bit quite fluid in recent years.

Therefore, we don’t know about the dozens of other top executives potentially selling their shares right now amid a giant correction.

It’s really suspicious because there are clear top leaders at Tesla who are often on Tesla’s earnings calls, and they are not even listed, like Lars Moravy, for example.

But it’s par for the course at Tesla, which has some of the worst corporate governance I have ever seen. It’s truly shameful.

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Mercedes’ new electric people mover is coming soon: Here’s a sneak peek at the luxe EV van

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3 hours ago

March 10, 2025

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Mercedes' new electric people mover is coming soon: Here's a sneak peek at the luxe EV van

The next generation of Mercedes-Benz luxury vans is almost here. Mercedes’ first luxury electric van, based on its new VAN.EA platform, is now in Arjeplog, Sweden, for winter testing. The new platform will serve as the base for upcoming VIP private vans, high-end limousines, luxury all-arounders, and much more.

What we know about Mercedes’ new luxury electric van

Mercedes is already a leading van maker, both for business and private use. Starting next year, all electric Mercedes’ vans will launch on its new Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA).

After unveiling the platform almost two years ago, Mathias Geisen, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said “VAN.EA clearly underscores our aspiration to ‘Lead in Electric.” He explained that the purpose-built EV architecture supports both mid and large vans.

With a modular design, Mercedes can easily swap out sections to create a different design. The platform consists of three blocks, or modules.

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The first block has the electric powertrain while the middle module determines the van’s dimensions. At the rear, the final module can add another electric motor, giving it AWD capabilities.

With 4MATIC AWD, Mercedes claims the new architecture significantly expands driving range and ensures the vans “meet the highest standards regardless of weather conditions.”

Although final specs will be revealed closer to launch, the electric vans will be based on an 800V platform, suggesting relatively fast charging speeds.

The luxury vans will also be loaded with Mercedes’ new operating system (MB.OS), it’s powerful new in-vehicle software that powers all functions like infotainment, autonomous driving, and more.

After the electric van began testing on public roads late last year, Mercedes said it was headed to Sweden for winter testing before its official debut next year.

Mercedes plans to launch several versions for private and business use. The VAN.EA-P is designed for those looking for a mobile office, family activity vehicle, etc., while the VAN.EA-C is for commercial use, such as courier, express, and parcel delivery vehicles. It can even support larger vehicles like campers or RVs.

Mercedes aims for 20% of van sales to be electric by the end of next year. By 2030, the luxury brand wants half of all van sales to be EV.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

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BlackRock’s Fink says Trump deportations will have severe impact on agriculture, construction

Published

4 hours ago

March 10, 2025

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BlackRock's Fink says Trump deportations will have severe impact on agriculture, construction

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: Deportations will have severe impact on the agricultural sector

HOUSTON — BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Monday that President Donald Trump‘s deportation policy will have a severe impact on the agriculture and construction sectors, which could lead to elevated inflation in the near term.

“I think that over the next six to nine months, we’re going to see a little more elevated inflation,” Fink said the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference. “I do believe deportations and the speed at which it is happening is going to have severe impacts on the agricultural sector and the construction sector.”

Fink said CEOs in the agriculture sector have told him that about 70% of the men and women who work in the industry were not born in the U.S. This raises the question of whether the U.S. will have enough labor to harvest the crops when spring arrives, Fink said.

“With the whole idea that we’re going to have to use private capital to build out this economy — are we going to have enough workers,” Fink asked. “I’ve even told members of the Trump team that we’re going to run out of electricians as we build out AI data centers — we just don’t have enough,” the CEO said.

This potential labor shortage will contribute to inflation, Fink said. Over the longer term, however, the U.S. could see “big deflation because of the advancement of AI and robots and how that’s going to reshape the economy,” the CEO said.

The deflationary pressure that the U.S. experienced over the past two decades was due in part to the importation of cheaper goods from overseas though this hurt U.S. workers, Fink said. The shift to rising nationalism around the world will have an impact on prices, he said.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on how he sees AI changing the labor landscape

“When I go to Washington, they talk about these policies,” Fink said. “I ask at what cost are you willing to tolerate that. “Yes, we may have opportunities to create better and more robust jobs, but then the offside of that will be, it will probably create a little more elevated inflation in the short run.”

Trump’s deportation policy is occurring at the same time the president is imposing tariffs on major U.S. trade partners. The president has slapped 20% tariffs on China. He has paused tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods that are compliant with the deal that governs trade in North America. But Trump is threatening what he calls “reciprocal tariffs” in April.