At a City Council meeting April 26, council members voted unanimously to accept the donation of three Bitcoin mining machines, called the Bitmain Antminer S9, from the Texas Blockchain Council. The machines have a total value of about $2,100, according to city documents. They will "mine" 24 hours a day in a climate-controlled environment at Fort Worth City Hall and will be housed on a private network.
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on a peer-to-peer Bitcoin network. Bitcoin mining is the process of creating new Bitcoin by solving a computational puzzle. Mining requires complex machines with high processing power to solve these computational problems.
A single Bitcoin reached an all-time high value of more than $68,000 in November 2021 and sits around $38,000 as of April 26.
"The City Council recognizes cryptocurrency is a technology with profound implications and great potential for innovation as well as a rapidly evolving ecosystem and regulatory framework," the resolution said.
Mayor Mattie Parker said Fort Worth will be the first city in the United States to mine Bitcoin. The council's adopted resolution seeks to make Fort Worth "crypto-friendly" with the aim of welcoming and encouraging the growth of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology companies in the city.
