Texas Senator Ted Cruz revealed that he bought up to $50,000 worth of Bitcoin during his crash last month. At the time of Cruz’s acquisition, Bitcoin was trading at around $37,000. Texas is thus quickly becoming a crypto mining hub, with a potential municipal coin in Austin.
With the value of Bitcoin dipping below the $40,000 level in the first month of 2022, many crypto enthusiasts saw it as an opportunity to dwell on the space. On January 25, the Texas senator bought between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of BTC. He says he used River Brokerage to buy the asset when Bitcoin was trading around $36,000 and $37,000 during a sell-off.
While the value of the cryptocurrency has since risen to over $40,000 in the days since, this means that Cruz’s purchase should have earned a profit of at least $2,000, as of press time.
Texas: A new crypto mining hub?
The lawmaker’s purchase is not surprising, considering that he is one of the few proponents of the blockchain industry and cryptocurrencies among lawmakers in the United States Congress. In November last year, Senator Cruz proposed that merchants serving Congress should have the option to receive their payments in cryptocurrency.
To Texas’ advantage, Cruz publicly supports cryptocurrency, specifically, Bitcoin, joining the state’s march forward to become a new crypto mining hub.
Due to its proliferation of pro-crypto policies and cheap electricity, Texas has quickly become a place of choice for many Bitcoin supporters, who have been searching for affordable energy sources to mine the digital asset.
The city of Austin has also reportedly collaborated with CityCoins for its AustinCoin ATX. However, the mining of AustinCoin ATX has not yet started.
Other US cities rumored to join the cryptocurrency move
There are rumors that Philadelphia will soon join as a potential third party in the growing CityCoins portfolio, with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Chief Information Officer Mark Wheeler expressing public support for joining CityCoins.
However, due to the harsh weather conditions ahead in the state, miners have voluntarily chosen to shut down their operations to help authorities conserve energy during the crisis, given the national winter storm that Texas experienced in 2021. This gesture has earned the mining community more praise and friends from the public.
By Audy Castaneda
