According to Cointelegraph, blockchain technology is poised to play a significant role in modernizing the U.S. electrical grid by leveraging human labor and stranded resources to establish decentralized energy infrastructure. Cosmo Jiang, a general partner at venture capital firm Pantera, highlighted the potential of blockchain to incentivize people in a decentralized manner, a method previously unattainable. Jiang explained that companies within the gig economy have developed strategies to enable individuals to monetize their free time and resources beyond their regular working hours through freelance engagements. Blockchain can capitalize on this by coordinating unused infrastructure, labor, and resources to construct a decentralized energy grid.
Jiang noted that certain protocols are designed to use token incentives to encourage individuals to install solar panels on their roofs or batteries in their homes, thereby creating an energy grid that is not centralized and does not require substantial capital expenditure. He concluded that such energy decentralization not only strengthens the grid but also navigates through regulatory challenges identified by the Trump administration as part of its "America’s AI Action Plan," aimed at establishing the U.S. as a global leader in artificial intelligence.
U.S. President Donald Trump has underscored the importance of maximizing the country's energy resources to meet the demands of AI data centers, crypto mining, and other high-performance computing applications. A recent White House report emphasized the need to upgrade the U.S. electric grid, one of the largest and most complex machines globally, to support future energy-intensive industries. Recommended policy actions include exploring nuclear energy generation and protecting existing grid components from electromagnetic disruptions. Additionally, building redundant energy systems to ensure maximum grid uptime and resiliency, while maintaining critical backups, is a key objective of the president’s energy infrastructure upgrade plan.