House Bill 1666, which wasby a group of lawmakers led by Representative Giovanni Capriglione, proposed to amend Section 160 of the Texas Finance Code, restricting large digital asset providers — with 500+ customers and at least $10 million of funds — from comingling the customer funds with any other type of operational capital. The bill reached Senate approval in three and a half months and was sent to the Governor’s office in May.
What that effectively means is that miners, which currently sell energy back to the grid at a premium when it needs it, will be unable to do so amid the growing energy demand from the industry. Currently, the Texan power grid can provide 92 gigawatts at the maximum. Should it not raise its capacities in the next three years, crypto mining could be taking the lion’s share of Texan electricity generation, in which case the 10% cap would cut the miners from the incentives program.
Thiel also highlighted the pressure at the federal level makes it harder for states to adopt pro-Bitcoin policies.