U.S. cities just can’t get enough of cryptocurrency. First, mayors wanted to get paid with it. Now, cities want to mine it themselves.
Fort Worth, Texas, has become the first to take the plunge. The city will operate three Bitmain Antminer S9 mining rigs in the IT wing of City Hall. Each rig, which will run 24/7, is expected to consume the same amount of energy as a vacuum cleaner, so the city is expecting to mine more value than it costs to run the operation.
Mayor Mattie Parker is hoping that Fort Worth’s new little mining farm will help put it on the map in the modern age. “For Fort Worth, a lot of people don’t know who we are," she said. "We want to change that conversation, and we believe that tech innovation including cryptocurrency is the way we’re going to do that.”
