SPI Insights

The city of Fort Worth positioned itself as a leader in cryptocurrency on April 26 when it became the first American municipality with its own Bitcoin mining operation.

Passage of a City Council resolution allowed the city to enter an initial six-month pilot program that revolves around three Bitcoin mining machines.

The Bitcoin mining machines, which were donated by a nonprofit organization called the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC), will operate around the clock from a temperature-controlled environment within the IT Solutions Department Data Center of Fort Worth City Hall. While constantly “mining” to secure newly issued blocks of Bitcoin, the machines will be connected to a private network to minimize risk exposure. Officials expect that the value of mined Bitcoin will offset any costs tied to their energy usage—which, for each machine, equals that of a vacuum cleaner.

Councilmembers’ recent vote to accept TBC’s donation — valued at $2,100 for all three machines — marked an official beginning for the new program. Once its initial six-month trial period has elapsed, the city will evaluate the possibility of expanding its Bitcoin mining program.

Last year, lawmakers made a point of recognizing cryptocurrency in Texas’ Uniform Commercial Code. The state also recently formed a Work Group on Blockchain Matters, which is responsible for devising a master plan to facilitate growth of the Texas blockchain industry. Now, as Texas continues to set the stage for cryptocurrency, the city of Fort Worth is already positioning itself as the “Bitcoin mining capital” within the state.