Fred Thiel, Chief Executive Officer of MARA Holdings, hosted U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for a fireside chat at Mining Disrupt Miami, June 24–26, 2024. The host who introduced them noted that Cruz owns Bitcoin and has a bill against a central bank digital currency. Over about half an hour, Thiel asked Cruz how he came to Bitcoin, what he thinks of a CBDC, how Texas treats miners and what the federal government should do.
A decade-old decision
Cruz said a friend tried to convince him to invest in Bitcoin about a decade earlier. He passed, because he did not understand it and does not put money into what he does not understand.
I think I can say that was a catastrophic financial decision
Ted Cruz · 2:12
A couple of years before the talk, he said, he began inviting Bitcoin experts to dinner to explain how it works and why it matters. He joked that the Senate has a median age "of about 106", and that being one of its more knowledgeable members on Bitcoin was not a high bar.
Asked why he likes Bitcoin, Cruz said it breaks up the government monopoly on money. He pointed to the 21 million coin limit as a guard against politicians printing more, and said he is wary of a federal government that wants to monitor every financial transaction. He cited the original Build Back Better proposal, which he said would have required banks to report every transaction over $600 to the Treasury Department.
I am incredibly bullish on bitcoin because the government can't control it
Ted Cruz · 3:09
A CBDC ban and the Fed
Thiel raised Senator Elizabeth Warren's support for a CBDC. Cruz said he disagrees with her on Bitcoin and called a CBDC the goal of those who want the Federal Reserve to control and monitor money. He said a CBDC will not pass Congress or clear a filibuster, and that he has introduced legislation to ban the federal government and the Fed from ever creating one. His concern, he said, is that the Fed could act on its own under political pressure.
Cruz also warned the room against assuming Bitcoin is inevitable.
there is I think one force strong enough to devastate Bitcoin and that is the federal government
Ted Cruz · 16:58
If the United States tried to crush it the way China has, he said, Bitcoin would survive and move elsewhere, but Americans would lose financial freedom. He compared the crypto community to big tech 10 to 15 years ago, at a fork between being left alone and working with government, and urged the audience to get involved.
Texas, flared gas and the battery idea
On Texas, Cruz said he wants the state to be ground zero for Bitcoin, citing abundant energy and an entrepreneurial culture, and said he welcomes Florida competing for the industry. Asked about state senate committees that had discussed limiting miners' access to power, he said he does not expect the legislature or the governor to do so, while noting that he has no vote in that body.
He tied that to the state's history, describing a Texas founded by wildcatters who drilled holes in the ground and became some of the richest men on Earth, and called his home city of Houston the energy capital of the world. In his view, Bitcoin sits where cheap, plentiful energy meets a culture that welcomes people trying to build a better mousetrap. He also said he believes in privacy, and that government should keep out of monitoring email, texts and money.
His energy case focused on West Texas. In the Permian Basin, he said, natural gas that comes up with oil is often flared when there is no pipeline. Mining at the wellhead can turn that gas into revenue. He said he has been drafting legislation to encourage using flared gas for Bitcoin mining, which he called a legitimate government role because avoiding that pollution is a public good. He also said mining can make the first wind turbine or solar array in a remote area pay before transmission lines exist.
one of the ways I like to think about Bitcoin is as a battery
Ted Cruz · 24:19
Thiel said MARA had started a pilot project in Utah to mine Bitcoin using methane from landfills, and that the U.S. may have a $3 trillion shortfall in transmission capacity that keeps solar and wind projects from being financed.
Three miners, and moving slowly
Cruz said he owns three miners in Texas, earning about 30 or 40 dollars of Bitcoin a day, and that he checks them daily. Thiel noted reports of about 55 million U.S. voters who have owned crypto; Cruz told them to speak out, vote, volunteer and give, and said his campaign website accepts Bitcoin.
On federal policy, Cruz said his principal position is to move slowly, because few in Washington understand the technology. He said he led the effort on the Senate floor against a provision that would have defined every Bitcoin miner as a securities broker-dealer. Asked about incentives for mining hardware makers, he said he does not want government picking winners and losers, and he said he opposes an energy tax aimed at Bitcoin miners.
Thiel closed on the developing world, where he said about 2.6 billion people are affected by currency devaluation. Cruz compared Bitcoin to mobile phones that let countries skip landlines: with a cell phone, a farmer without a reliable bank can store value that the government or cartels cannot take.
At the time of the conference, Bitcoin traded at $61,272. On October 17, 2026, it was $81,466. Mining Disrupt 2027 runs March 22 to 24 in Irving, Texas.