“West Texas is going to dominate; it will all come here,” predicts Jesse Peltan, 24, CTO of Dallas-based Autonomous (and a member of the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30). Last year Peltan helped launch a 150-megawatt crypto mining data center near Midland called HODL Ranch, named for crypto hoarders who buy and then “Hold on for dear life.” It’s the first large-scale operation to be powered by the region’s massive solar and wind farms. Some nights the gusts are so ferocious that grid operators give away power just to keep the system from overloading.

Here’s the key: These miners have entered into so-called demand response contracts with the Texas grid, whereby they agree, in exchange for rebates, to shut down their computers at a moment’s notice during times of peak power demand. This brings average power costs at HODL Ranch down below 2 cents per kwh, for a mining cost close to $2,000 per bitcoin.