Rockdale, Texas, Was Counting On Cryptocurrency 'Mining,' But Then 'Bitcoin Winter' Set In
Rockdale, Texas, an hour outside of Austin, was depending on a company called Bitmain – a Bitcoin “mining” company – to bring new jobs and revenue to the town after the Alcoa coal plant closed more than a decade ago. But when Bitcoin started losing value in 2018, Rockdale suffered. Bitmain postponed the opening of its facility, and ended up hiring a fraction of the several-hundred people it had originally promised.
Now, Bitmain says it will open its facility some time this summer, albeit on a much smaller scale. But for Rockdale, that might not be enough.
Mark Dent is an Austin-based freelance reporter who wrote about Bitmain and Rockdale for Wired. He says Bitmain’s troubles came at a time when Rockdale was already struggling economically – Dent calls it “Bitcoin winter.”
“It was a tough time for them, especially because of the way it went down,” Dent says. “There was also a couple of hospitals that closed in the last couple of years, and a coal plant; it just felt like more gloom and bad news.”
Read more: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/rockdale-texas-was-counting-on-cryptocurrency-mining-but-then-bitcoin-winter-set-in/
Photo: Gabriel Cristóver Pérez/KUT
Downtown Rockdale, Texas. Don't blink!
