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Dennis Porter's Cannabis Playbook for Bitcoin Mining
Satoshi Action's Dennis Porter argued at Mining Disrupt Miami 2023 that miners win by selling local benefits in statehouses, as cannabis did.
Two thousand megawatts. That is how much power Bitcoin miners in Texas gave back to the grid during Winter Storm Uri, according to Dennis Porter. In his words, it is "enough energy to heat 2 million small homes."
Porter is CEO and Co-Founder of Satoshi Action, a non-profit that advocates for Bitcoin miners. He made his case at Mining Disrupt Miami, held July 25 to 27, 2023. Bitcoin traded at $29,125 then. On October 13, 2026, it was $83,490.
His session opened with old anti-marijuana advertisements. Reefer Madness. Weed from the devil's garden. Warnings that it would cause insanity. Porter's point was that mining in 2023 was getting the same treatment: letters from Congress, including one signed by seven senators, and attacks from outlets like the New York Times.
Cannabis, he said, had it worse. It was a federal crime, and growers could not even open a bank account. What turned it around was not the moral argument. In the early 2010s, advocates started talking about money: growth, jobs and taxes. Porter put the figures on screen: $67 million in Colorado and $580 million in Washington, in one year.
"Policy makers they love tax money coming in," he said, "but they don't like, they really don't like to raise taxes a whole lot."
So his advice to miners was to sell their benefits in the statehouse. Grid balancing during emergencies. Capturing methane at oil and gas wells, which he called revenue-generating climate tech. And jobs. He told the story of James, an older man he met in the control center at a Riot facility. The industry his town was built on had left years ago. Riot gave him a job no one else was offering.
The approach was already working, Porter said. In 2023, four states considered right-to-mine bills, and two passed, in Montana and Arkansas. Missouri came razor close.
He also asked miners to do their part: spend a little extra on sound mitigation and engage with their neighbors, or face a backlash that politicians will use. And he flagged banking. Another miner, mostly an energy company, had all its accounts, personal ones included, closed by Wells Fargo once the bank learned about the mining.
His last line was about where the fight happens. "DC is not where we win this game," he said. "We win it in states like Florida, we win it in states like Texas."
The full story is on Mining Disrupt at miningdisrupt dot com, and many more like it play around the clock on Bitcoin Radio.