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A worker installs a new row of Bitcoin mining machines at the Whinstone US Bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas, on October 9, 2021. The long sheds at North America's largest bitcoin mine look endless in the Texas sun, packed with the type of machines that have helped the US to become the new global hub for the digital currency. The operation in the quiet town of Rockdale was part of an already bustling US business -- now boosted by Beijing's intensified crypto crackdown that has pushed the industry west. Experts say rule of law and cheap electricity in the US are a draw for bitcoin miners, whose energy-gulping computers race to unlock units of the currency. "There's a lot of competitors coming into Texas because they are seeing the same thing (as) when we came here," said Chad Everett Harris, CEO of miner Whinstone, which operates the Rockdale site owned by US company Riot Blockchain. (Photo by Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images)