Ensuring Bitcoin Wins with Lee Bratcher - WBD736

Lee Bratcher is the President of the Texas Blockchain Council. In
this interview, we discuss Bitcoin mining in Texas, the North
American Blockchain Summit 2023 and the regulatory challenges
miners face. We also talk about the potential impact of
politicians embracing Bitcoin, the importance of mainstream media
presence at the upcoming conference, and efforts to attract
professionals to Bitcoin events.


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This podcast was made before the start of the Texas Bitcoin
Summit in Fort Worth, which started yesterday and runs through
until Friday. The summit is expected to be the biggest one yet,
with over a thousand attendees and a focus on mining. And this
year the Texas Blockchain Council has excelled at attracting some
major political figures, including RFK, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ted
Cruz, Cynthia Lummis, Andrew Yang and Warren Davidson.


Texas seems to understand Bitcoin better than other states, which
is attributable in part to the independent thinking and
educational efforts in the state. The Texas Bitcoin mining
industry is a catalyst for Bitcoin mining across the world,
leading the way in developing use cases such as demand response
grid balancing services and the incentivisation for the build-out
of renewable energy.


However, the path to wider acceptance of mining in Texas has not
been foregone, and the future is still uncertain. The challenges
the industry has faced have been significant. For example, Senate
Bill 1751 in Texas sought to ban miners from the very same
ancillary services that have benefitted ERCOT’s grid balancing
objectives. These efforts have been pushed by traditional legacy
industries in Texas aided by their strategy of regulatory
capture.


Traditional industries such as steel mills and petrochemical
refineries have been frustrated by Bitcoin miners bidding down
the price for demand response services (which in turn has
benefits consumers). The bill passed unanimously in the Senate.
The fact the bill was ultimately killed in the House was thanks
in large part to the efforts of the Texas Blockchain Council
under Lee Bratcher’s presidency.


The issue highlights the problem of getting a political consensus
on Bitcoin. Elizabeth Warren, for one, makes it difficult for
Democrats to openly support Bitcoin. However, a few Democrats are
showing a more practical and nuanced understanding. And, being
anti-Bitcoin will become a risky position to take in the future
due to generational-led shifts in opinions. Until then, it’s up
to bodies like the Texas Blockchain Council to continue to fight
for Bitcoin.


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Show notes:
https://www.whatbitcoindid.com/podcast/ensuring-bitcoin-wins


This episode’s sponsors:
Iris Energy - Bitcoin Mining. Done Sustainably
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