Russ Choma
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russchoma.bsky.social
Russ Choma
@russchoma.bsky.social
15K followers 110 following 51 posts
Investigative reporter @Motherjones DC ex OpenSecrets.org tip me at rchoma @ motherjones.com
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Reposted by Russ Choma
ketanjoshi.co
Here, @russchoma.bsky.social's @motherjones.com article seems to have been plagiarised

Original: www.motherjones.com/politics/202... (GREAT READ BTW)

Plagiarised: archive.ph/wip/EghBx web.archive.org/web/20250923...

Reddit should be auto-blocking these sites and banning the guy(s) running them
The bitcoin mine—known as the Vega Data Center—is a 162,000-square-foot building that will be packed to the rafters with thousands of high-end computers, cooled with water. The computers’ task is, quite literally, to print money. They’ll churn their way through increasingly complex algorithms, which, as they’re solved, release new bitcoins into the world. Bitcoin, the world’s marquee cryptocurrency, now has a market price well above $100,000; it’s a potentially lucrative project, but an enormously energy-hungry one. That’s where wind power comes in—the Vega center was built over the last year next to the Canadian Breaks wind farm, a 200-megawatt facility in North Texas. Since 2019, the wind farm had supplied inexpensive green energy to Texas’ power grid. But last year, the farm’s owners agreed instead to sell the facility’s energy to a subsidiary of a company called Hut 8, which owns that new bitcoin mine. The deal was a triumph for Hut 8. Crypto mining is profitable only if the electricity it runs on is cheap, and, the company’s CEO told investors, the new mine “benefits from some of the lowest locational wholesale power prices in North America.” So this past spring, when he struck a deal with Hut 8, Eric Trump became a power player in the worlds of both renewable energy and crypto mining—interlocking industries whose fortunes are being reshaped by his father’s presidency. His timing couldn’t have been better. He was locking in a low-cost source of clean power just as the Trump administration was ramping up a campaign to block construction of new wind projects around the country. A Crypto Empire Fueled by Wind The president’s sons have stepped into the booming business of bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mining is a process where thousands of powerful computers run nonstop to solve complex puzzles. When these puzzles are solved, new bitcoins are released, which can then be sold or kept as investments. With Bitcoin prices soaring past $100,000, the rewards can be huge. There is one big problem: mining bitcoin eats up massive amounts of electricity. To stay profitable, miners need the cheapest energy they can find. In Texas, the president’s son struck gold—only not in the ground, but in the wind. Near the Canadian Breaks wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, a massive bitcoin mine has been built. This mine, called the Vega Data Center, is a 162,000-square-foot building filled with rows of computers cooled by water. These machines consume enormous amounts of electricity every second. Trump halts offshore wind projects while backing $200 million White House ballroom The solution came when the mine secured exclusive access to power from the wind farm. Instead of sending clean energy to thousands of homes, the turbines now send it straight into the servers that create bitcoin. For the mining company behind the project, the deal was perfect. Wind power was not just clean—it was cheap. That low cost meant higher profits. Soon after, the president’s sons joined forces with the company, forming a new venture called American Bitcoin. One of them even took on the role of chief strategy officer. Together with their partners, they turned the operation into a public company, aiming to build wealth with every coin mined.
September 23, 2025 at 11:17 AM