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CORSICANA, Texas – As temperatures crept above 37.8 degrees Celsius on a July day, air-conditioners across Texas churned overtime and demand on the U.S. state's electricity grid flirted with a new demand record: 80 gigawatts, nearly double the daily average.

But at a recently setup bitcoin mine in West Texas, the computers were turned off, with only a trickle of power flowing to keep the lights on and the air cool.

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