Editor’s Note: This story is copublished with The Nation. Read their version here.
The five members of the Navarro County Commissioners Court had rarely seen such a large audience for their Tuesday meeting as they saw in October 2024, when they weighed a Colorado-based company’s application for a multimillion-dollar tax abatement—an incentive to expand its already-established cryptocurrency mine near the small North Texas town of Corsicana. It was standing room only in the small meeting room of the stately county courthouse. Roughly a dozen locals occupied the first rows of seats, while more than 50 employees of Riot Platforms—the company seeking the crypto handout—filled up the rest, spilling out into the halls.
