Senior Bitcoin mining expert Pierre Rochard took to Twitter today to correct a widely shared Wired article that claimed ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator, pays Bitcoin miners to curtail during high demand periods. The false claim suggests that miners were financially incentivized to turn off their operations to ease grid stress.

Rochard, pointing out the misinformation, clarified that ERCOT does not, in fact, pay Bitcoin miners to switch off for a fee. Instead, ERCOT operates through a competitive, offer-based system known as Ancillary Services (AS), designed to maintain grid reliability during disturbances. Bitcoin miners and other loads are compensated to stay on standby, ready to provide frequency support.

The misunderstanding arose from a misinterpretation of ERCOT’s energy procurement methods, which do involve paying generators like peaker plants and batteries to remain offline in reserve, but the same logic does not apply to Bitcoin miners. Rather than receiving payments to power down, Bitcoin miners operate as a load in reserve under ERCOT’s market mechanisms.

Pierre Rochard emphasized that this kind of factual accuracy is critical, particularly given the significant media coverage surrounding Bitcoin mining’s role in energy grids. He further stated that correcting misinformation helps maintain transparency and an informed public discourse around the intersection of energy management and Bitcoin mining.

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