Texas Audit Exposes Cryptocurrency Mining Industry's Hidden Risks
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered an audit of every data center project seeking a grid connection in response to rapidly growing demand from cryptocurrency miners. The order covers around 474 GW of pending requests, with about 90% coming from data centers. This is more than five times the grid's record peak load.
The order puts AI infrastructure tied to Bitcoin miners under scrutiny, as regulators verify each project's power sourcing, water use, cooling plans, and ownership. Public Bitcoin miners have been pitching investors on multi-gigawatt AI infrastructure pipelines over the past year, but these numbers can bundle very different assets under one label.
Hut 8, a major player in the industry, has raised $7.5 billion in project-level financing across two flagship sites: River Bend and Beacon Point. Both of these sites are contracted, financed, and under construction, giving Hut 8 a strong de-risked asset base.