  Demand flexibility plays a pivotal role in modern power systems with high
penetration of variable energy resources. In recent years, one of the
fastest-growing flexible energy demands has been proof-of-work-based
cryptocurrency mining facilities. Due to their competitive ramping capabilities
and demonstrated flexibility, such fast-responding loads are capable of
participating in frequency regulation services for the grid while
simultaneously increasing their own operational revenue. In this paper, we
investigate the physical and economic viability of employing cryptocurrency
mining facilities to provide frequency regulation in large power systems. We
quantify mining facilities' operational profit, and propose a decision-making
framework to explore their optimal participation strategy and account for the
most influential factors. We employ real-world ERCOT ancillary services data in
our case study to investigate the conditions under which provision of frequency
regulation in the Texas grid is profitable. We also perform transient level
simulations using a synthetic Texas grid to demonstrate the competitiveness of
mining facilities at frequency regulation provision.
