AI still has a decentralization problem

At the Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai I was disappointed that the flow only went one way: many projects use blockchain to promote AI development, but AI itself does very little for blockchain technology. The second issue is the distinction between blockchain AI and truly decentralized AI. I wanted to find projects that are genuinely decentralized, not just wrapped in a blockchain.

Here I went to the keynote of a project called Angel AI. The speech was strong, especially the part about tokenization. When people interact through tokens, they do not know your gender, your race, or who you are. They only see your history, your assets, and that transparency is powerful. The project has its own blockchain and claims to be decentralized, but I still do not know how they store all the files or how safe the system really is.

Why Texas is becoming the mining capital

Texas already feels different. Governor Greg Abbott has said Texas is ready to become the home of cryptocurrency mining and wants the state to be the crypto capital of the world. Texas is the ninth largest economy in the world if you treat it as a country, and the mining loads here are huge. Some single mines use over 500 megawatts, while a city of about 300,000 people uses around 600 megawatts.

A big reason is clean and wasted energy. Rachel Silverstein from Bitfarms explained that many places have excess electricity from solar panels between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. that simply goes to waste. Energy companies are just starting to realize they can sell that excess electricity to miners. We are very early.

I also met a gas company operator from Mississippi. They have excess gas, so they convert it to electricity and mine Bitcoin. They are not strong believers in decentralization at first, they only believe in return on investment. One grid manager told me he started mining for profit, but now he has gained faith in the technology. This shift contrasts with the bad press Bitcoin got during the China ban, when mining relied on coal. Now we can use clean energy, excess energy, and produce Bitcoin more efficiently.

Texas is not the cheapest electricity market compared to places like Malaysia, Indonesia, or Thailand. But the government is supportive, the infrastructure is stable, and the long-term legal framework makes a real difference. Even the hot weather is being handled by companies like Gigabox Hydro that already have cooling solutions in place.

The economics of mining Bitcoin in the US

I interviewed John Taylor from Bitcoin Mining World, an education-based marketing platform. He told me the average cost to produce one Bitcoin in the US is around $55,000, but electricity prices vary greatly. In California it can be three times as expensive as in Texas, so Texas miners can produce Bitcoin at about that $55,000 level while Bitcoin trades near $95,000.

Bureaucracy also depends on the state. New York and California are heavily regulated with many permits and resistance. Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma are much friendlier. Texas has huge oil reserves in Midland, plus wind, solar, and gas. Partners like Verde Mining take stranded gas and flare gas that would otherwise be wasted or taxed, convert it with generators, and mine Bitcoin.

John also told me the next halving will change the dynamics of mining profitability. He does not have a crystal ball, but he expects miners to explore node data capture and new transactional revenue streams. On the question of China waking up, he thinks Bitcoin mining is decentralized enough and China is still the biggest customer, so the economics of attacking it do not make sense.

A strategic reserve of one million Bitcoin

Senator Lummis was not here today, but everyone was talking about her proposal. She wants the United States to buy up to one million Bitcoin over five years as a strategic reserve. That idea looks more and more like a future reality. She frames it as a way to address the debt, and while I am not sure it solves the debt problem, it could certainly help. I see it more as a way to protect the US dollar.

One million Bitcoin is about 8% of the total available Bitcoin supply. If the US actually does this, it would trigger a global race to accumulate Bitcoin. Other countries would follow, prices would skyrocket, and individuals like you and me would find it harder to get our hands on more coins. If you already hold some, the price impact could be insane.

Part of me feels emotional about this. I see centralized infrastructures and centralized AIs, and I get a little sad about a world that is more blockchained but not more decentralized. That is a topic for another day, but Trump does not care about that debate. He wants to make America great again, and that logic drives a lot of the crypto policy talk.

Three signals from Trump's circle

After the last keynote I met people from Fidelity and another investment group at the bar. They invited me to dinner and we discussed Trump and Pompeo at length. I could not record there, so I am sharing the notes now. I came away with three key points from the people who see Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

First is energy dominance. Trump wants a surplus of energy in the United States while China and Russia run deficits. Before, that dominance came from oil and natural gas. Now the spectrum is wider: blockchain, AI, and everything else depends on energy. Controlling energy is the key.

Second, Pompeo said President Trump does not want American kids to go to war. But a great and strong America cannot just withdraw from conflict without something to counterbalance its power. That means more economic power, and Pompeo again talked about China's dependency on US exports. We may see pressure applied with tariffs, similar to eight years ago. For the crypto community, this means a few years of relative stability, which would be very profitable if no black swan event like Covid hits.

Third is efficiency. Pompeo talked a lot about efficiency and deregulation, and it reminded me of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. When I hear Pompeo talk about Trump, I feel like I am hearing Musk. They are all aligned on the need for efficiency.

  • Energy dominance: surplus at home, deficits for rivals.
  • No war, but more economic power instead of military pressure.
  • Efficiency and deregulation as a central theme, echoing DOGE.

What I take away from day one

The first day was far more surprising than I expected. I came for regulation talk and left with a clear picture of a Texas mining boom, an AI sector that still has a decentralization gap, and a strategic reserve narrative that feels increasingly real.

The three priorities from Trump's circle and the Texas energy surplus point in the same direction: stable, energy-backed, and efficiency-driven growth for crypto. Tomorrow I will dig into the SEC, taxes, tracking, CBDCs, and what happens to the market in the mid to long term. Trump is just the beginning, and the first 18 months will be the most important.