El Salvador’s foray into the world of cryptocurrency is now heating up, literally. The Central American country has apparently extracted more than 474 bitcoins from the Tecapa volcano in the last three years by harnessing its geothermal energy.
This green strategy has significantly increased El Salvador’s state crypto reserves, currently worth around $354 million. President Nayib Bukele’s administration recruited 300 specialized processors to harness 1.5 MW of the volcano’s 102 MW geothermal capacity for mining, equivalent to 5% of the total geothermal capacity used for the same purpose.
This radical approach has generated an additional $29 million since 2021. El Salvador now has national bitcoin reserves that have reached 5,750 bitcoins, a considerable figure.
Nevertheless, this ongoing trend was preceded by a heated debate in 2021 about the decision to make bitcoin legal tender alongside the US dollar. The IMF opposed this decision due to cryptocurrency’s volatility.
El Salvador’s volcanic bitcoin experiment raises interesting questions about the future of cryptocurrency mining. Is the utilization of geothermal energy paving the way for a more eco-friendly crypto industry?
While El Salvador has a clean energy source for its mining, the environmental impact of large-scale crypto mining in other places remains a significant concern.
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