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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT to audit every data center project seeking a grid connection before regulators approve any new projects. The order puts AI infrastructure tied to Bitcoin miners under scrutiny, while the audit verifies each project's power sourcing, water use, cooling plans, and ownership. The order covers […] The post Bitcoin miners’ AI pipelines are on trial as Texas freezes 474 GW of data center requests appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Thor’s diligence right expires before court review, while estate boundaries and claim priorities keep any recovery percentage unresolved. The post Poolin owes wallet users $163.7M, and its $52M Texas sale can still unravel next week appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Monday’s announcement that Texas Governor Greg Abbott set a moratorium on approval of ERCOT-linked data centers pending an audit won’t impact miners’ approved electricity contracts. Bitcoin miners with operations in Texas are not expected to be impacted by a moratorium on approval of data center projects connected to the state’s grid operator ordered by Governor Greg Abbott, Bernstein analysts said Tuesday. Abbott on Monday directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to audit all data centers seeking to connect to the state’s power grid. The duration of the audit was not specified and comes amid increasing public backlash to the pace of data center build-out across the state, The Texas Tribune reported. Bernstein analysts told clients on Tuesday that as most of the Bitcoin (BTC) miners operating in Texas are under contract for approved electric capacity, those operations are unlikely to be impacted by the moratorium. Read more

Texas broke its all-time electricity demand record twice in two days last week. ERCOT served a preliminary 91,308 megawatts around 5 p.m. on July 22, one day after demand hit 87,403 megawatts and erased the 85,508-megawatt mark that had stood since Aug. 10, 2023. Neither afternoon saw an appeal for energy conservation, and the system […] The post Bitcoin miners saved Texas power grid from collapse, but their lucrative pivot to AI is stripping away the emergency brake appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The crypto-focused companies announced separate acquisitions as demand for power-intensive AI and digital infrastructure continues to grow. Crypto companies continued to expand their physical footprint in Texas, with Galaxy Digital and MARA Holdings announcing separate land acquisitions tied to AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and Bitcoin mining infrastructure. On Tuesday, Galaxy Digital, a crypto financial services and infrastructure company, said it acquired a 500-acre site in McGregor, Texas, where it plans to build its second AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data center campus in the state. The project is expected to launch with 74 megawatts of power capacity before expanding in later phases. MARA Holdings, a Bitcoin miner and digital infrastructure company, separately announced an agreement to acquire a 1,200-acre powered site in Matagorda County with access to up to 2 gigawatts of power capacity. The company said it intends to develop the site for AI and HPC workloads as well as bitcoin minin...

Phase II handovers are expected to begin in 2027 as the project company takes on fixed cash costs. The post The brutal $346M math behind Galaxy’s high-stakes race to build CoreWeave’s Texas AI mega-center appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The Bitcoin miner's shares climbed about 15% after announcing it's acquiring a Texas site with up to 2 GW of power capacity to expand its AI and digital infrastructure strategy. Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings shares rose about 15% in early trading Thursday after the company announced plans to acquire a Texas powered-land site with access to up to 2 gigawatts of electricity for AI computing and Bitcoin mining. The 1,200-acre site in Matagorda county, about 90 miles southwest of Houston, is expected to provide access to an initial 1 GW of grid capacity by October 2027 and up to 2 GW by April 2028. MARA said it plans to develop the site as a digital infrastructure campus supporting both high-performance computing and Bitcoin mining. Upon full energization, the site is expected to more than double the Bitcoin (BTC) miner's potential power capacity to about 4.8 GW. HIF USA will retain a minority ownership stake in the project if MARA signs a lease with a high-performance computing tenant, according to the companies. ...

Texas spent years courting AI companies, cloud providers, and Bitcoin miners with cheap electricity, abundant land, and a sales tax exemption that's grown into one of the state's costliest incentive programs. But now, Governor Greg Abbott has told state regulators to flip the arrangement, directing them to require data centers to fund the grid they […] The post Texas questions whether AI data centers should pay for the grid they strain appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The SEC charged Texas man Nathan Fuller with raising $12.3 million from 150 investors through a crypto fraud scheme built around fake AI trading bots. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Texas man with running a crypto fraud scheme that raised $12.3 million from roughly 150 investors by falsely claiming to use AI-powered trading bots to generate guaranteed returns. Nathan Fuller, a resident of Cypress, Texas, operated the scheme through his company Privvy Investments, LLC, and under the assumed business name Gateway Digital Investments between at least October 2022 and mid-2024, according to the SEC’s complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Fuller allegedly promised investors returns of 40% to 50% within 30 to 45 days, with some told they could make guaranteed profits exceeding 100% in as little as 21 days. To back up the pitch, he claimed investor funds were secured by a surety bond, insured by the  Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and protect...

While crypto-backed candidates won runoffs in Texas on Tuesday, industry PACs have less of a stake in California races next week. After six Republican and Democratic candidates supported by cryptocurrency-backed interest groups won primaries for US House of Representatives and Senate seats in Texas, one of the biggest political action committees (PACs) said it would “aggressively back leaders” supporting crypto policies in the future. On Tuesday, candidates notched six wins for congressional runoff primaries in Texas, supported by media spending and endorsements by the crypto industry-affiliates Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, Protect Progress, Blockchain Leadership Fund and Fellowship PACs. Democrat Christian Menefee primaried incumbent Al Green for Texas’ 18th congressional district and Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton won against incumbent Senator John Cornyn with more than 63% of the vote. Four other Republican candidates — Tom Sell, Alex Mealer, Jon Bonck and Carlos De La Cruz — also won in ...

Crypto PACs threw serious money behind a handful of Texas runoffs, helping oust a senior Democrat and boost Republican hopefuls as lawmakers hammer out new US crypto rules. [Clarification (17:49 UTC 5/27/2026) In the fourth paragraph, both Alex Mealer and Jon Bonck were the winners in their respective Republican runoffs.] Crypto-backed political groups supported several winning candidates in Texas primary runoffs Tuesday, highlighting the digital asset industry’s growing role in US elections as Congress debates new rules for crypto markets. Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican US Senate runoff against four-term Senator John Cornyn by a wide margin, according to Texas primary runoff results, and will face Democratic state Representative James Talarico in November. Read more

The crypto-aligned Protect Progress PAC reported spending another $750,000 on media for a Democratic candidate over Representative Al Green, whom it described as “actively hostile” to digital assets. Two Texas Congressional candidates supported by millions of dollars in spending from interest groups aligned with the cryptocurrency industry are headed for runoffs this week in races for the US Senate and House of Representatives. On Tuesday, Democratic voters in Texas’ 18th congressional district will decide between incumbent Al Green and challenger Christian Menefee to run in November's general election. Statewide, voters will choose between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent John Cornyn for the Republican primary for US Senate. Both Tuesday races are runoffs after none of the candidates failed to secure a majority in Texas’ March primaries. The crypto industry, through spending on media by political action committees (PACs), has stakes in both races, which could influence policy and the makeup of...

After reporting more than $1.7 million to election officials, a crypto-aligned political action committee has reportedly backed out of advertising for a Texas Senate candidate. The Fellowship political action committee (PAC), which launched claiming to have more than $100 million from crypto-aligned backers, has reportedly backed out of an advertising deal to support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a crucial US Senate race. According to a Thursday report from Axios, Republican leaders contacted US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on his connections to Fellowship, which has been partially funded by Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick, as the former president and CEO and whose sons are now in charge of the financial services company, reportedly faced questioning from Republicans about Fellowship’s support of Paxton, whom on Tuesday the PAC reported spending $1.75 million in supportive advertising. Read more

Meta-1 Coin was sold and marketed from 2018 to 2023 as an investment backed by $44 billion in gold and $1 billion in artworks, which turned out to be fictional. A Texas man found guilty of helping orchestrate a cryptocurrency scam project that defrauded $20 million from nearly 1,000 investors has been sentenced to 23 years behind bars by a US judge on Tuesday. US District Judge LaShonda Hunt sentenced Robert Dunlap, who served as a trustee of the project that sold the fictional token Meta-1 Coin, to prison and ordered him to pay restitution to victims of the fraud, according to the Illinois US Attorney's office. Assistant US attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini said in the government’s sentencing memorandum that Dunlap was “unrepentant” and that his lies grew “over the years.” Read more

The #2 Texas state official called on lawmakers to study “the sudden inundation of prediction market gambling“ as other jurisdictions take the platforms to court. Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor and President of the Senate in Texas, has included a study of prediction markets and crypto and blockchain as part of legislative priorities for the state’s next legislative session, scheduled to begin in January. In a Friday announcement, the lieutenant governor’s office issued 2026 interim charges for Texas Senate committees to study in preparation for the next legislature. Patrick said that the charges were intended to “advance the priorities of Texas’ conservative majority,” including an analysis of prediction markets and digital assets. According to the charges, Patrick wants lawmakers to focus on “closing gambling loopholes” by studying “the sudden inundation of prediction market gambling and the exploitation of federal law to circumvent Texas gambling prohibitions” on elections. Read more

Canaan Buys Cipher Mining Assets: Is $200K Bitcoin Next? The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Major Miner Just Expanded in Texas: Is a Massive BTC Production Surge Coming? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Al Green is running against Christian Menefee in the Democratic Party primary elections next month, with Texas one of the first states to vote. The pro-crypto political action committee (PAC) Protect Progress will reportedly spend $1.5 million opposing Texas representative Al Green in the upcoming Democratic Party primary over his past opposition to crypto. “As a member of the Financial Services Committee, Representative Al Green has decided to try and stop American innovation in its tracks,” Protect Progress, an affiliate of the major crypto PAC Fairshake, told The Hill on Thursday. Green, a Democrat who has represented Texas's 9th congressional district in the House since 2005, opposed the stablecoin regulating GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, two crypto-focused bills that the House passed last year. Read more

The deal followed Riot announcing last week that it sold more than $160 million of its Bitcoin holdings as part of a strategy shift, to broaden use of its data centers. Shares of Riot Platforms jumped more than 11% after the crypto miner said it sold Bitcoin to help finance a land acquisition in Texas. In a Friday notice, Riot said the $96 million deal for 200 acres of land in Rockdale, Texas was funded entirely by the sale of about 1,080 Bitcoin (BTC). The miner also signed a data center lease and services agreement with semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), initially deploying 25 megawatts (MW) of “critical IT load capacity.” “These results mark a pivotal moment that cements Riot’s position as a leading data center developer, less than twelve months since the launch of our formal process to evaluate our assets for AI/HPC use,” said Riot CEO Jason Les. Read more

The company’s move closer to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing followed many others repurposing some of their infrastructure away from mining crypto. Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark reached an agreement to buy land in Texas as part of a strategy to move deeper into AI and high-performance computing (HPC). In a Wednesday announcement, CleanSpark said it had entered a definitive agreement to buy 447 acres of land in Brazoria County, Texas as part of plans to develop a 300 megawatt (MW) data center, which could potentially be expanded to 600 MW. Combined with another initiative in the area, the data centers are “designed for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads.” ”The demand for scaled, AI-native compute continues to accelerate, and access to transmission-level power in strategically advantageous regions has become increasingly constrained,” said CleanSpark chairman and CEO Matt Schultz. Read more

ERCOT reported a record surge in large-load requests, with AI data centers surpassing Bitcoin miners and reshaping Texas’s grid planning and reliability outlook. Texas is rapidly emerging as an epicenter of artificial intelligence-driven energy demand, with an unprecedented surge in large-load power requests, a wave now dominated by AI data centers rather than Bitcoin miners. The figures, highlighted in The Miner Mag’s latest newsletter and drawn from ERCOT’s new System Planning and Weatherization Update, point to a grid facing a fundamentally different kind of growth. ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state’s independent power grid and oversees reliable electric service for about 90% of Texans, reported that its large-load interconnection queue has ballooned to 226 gigawatts of new requests, roughly 73% tied to AI facilities. Read more