United States | Power hungry

Why Texas Republicans are souring on crypto

Playing the state’s energy market has become more profitable than mining bitcoin

The warehouse of a crypto mining operation in Texas
Photograph: Eli Durst/New York Times/Redux/Eyevine
|ROCKDALE, TEXAS

Cryptocurrency is now campaign talk, thanks to Donald Trump. Last month, in their party platform, Republicans announced plans to bring an end to the “unAmerican crypto crackdown” and pledged to “defend the right to mine Bitcoin”. At a bitcoin conference in Nashville days later, the biggest such get-together in the world, Mr Trump vowed to make America the “crypto capital of the planet”.

Explore more

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Power hungry”

From the August 31st 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

US Vice President Kamala Harris looks shocked.

Could an “October surprise” upset America’s election?

What last-minute developments might portend for the race

Illustration of blue legs crossing a red dotted line.

Donald Trump is preparing an assault on America’s immigration system

The third in our series of policy briefs


Illustration of scissors cutting a Tax paper in half. The scissors are red and the paper is blue.

What America’s presidential election means for taxes

The second in our series of policy briefs


The Supreme Court begins another contentious term

Guns, vapes, online porn and health care for transgender youth dot the docket

What America’s presidential election means for world trade

The first in a series of eight concise briefs on the consequences of the 2024 election

Checks and Balance newsletter: gender politics in the election 

Both parties are telling very different stories about gender