Bitcoin mining in El Salvador: first volcano BTC in progress
Nayib Bukele, who has put his political future on a nationwide Bitcoin move, tweeted early Friday morning that the country’s first foray into Bitcoin mining with volcanic electricity had taken place.
President Nayib Bukele pointed out in his tweet that the country’s mining project was still in progress, but that the new mining equipment was already being tested and installed.
El Salvador has already been able to mine 0.00599179 Bitcoin, around 269 US dollars, using volcanic energy. The Central American country can already do that Bitcoin but has not yet managed to create a “complete” Bitcoin from volcanic energy. The flagship of cryptocurrencies was launched on September 7, 2021 officially introduced as legal tender.
On Tuesday, El Salvador’s president released a 25-second teaser video showing footage of a government-branded container full of Bitcoin mining rigs. Technicians installing and connecting ASIC miners as well as sweeping landscape shots on the edge of a volcano were also on view.
The video, which was simply titled “First steps…”, has already been viewed more than 2 million times.
Even if geothermal energy mining of Bitcoin is not an invention “Made in El Salvador”, this public move is a boon to the general debate about Bitcoin’s carbon footprint.
“It’s just geothermal energy,” said Bitcoin miner Alejandro de la Torre, who recently moved from China to Texas.
“Iceland has been doing this since the early days of BTC mining.”
Whether the author or not, one thing is clear – Nayib Bukele obviously keeps his promises.
As early as June 2021, the president promised to use volcanoes as renewable energy for mining BTC.
He strives for low mining costs and low environmental impact – so it is almost logical how El Salvador, the “land of volcanoes”, wants to procure the energy necessary for mining.
Bukele reached out to the state-run geothermal energy company, LaGEO SA de CV, for help with his Bitcoin move.
At that time, the president spoke of rapid developments in the direction of clean Bitcoin mining – and that should prove to be true. The groundbreaking in the direction of Vulkanpower Bitcoin took place just four months later.
According to the International Geothermal Association About 25 percent of the country’s energy comes from the two geothermal fields in Ahuachapán and Berlín. The Berlín field, which has been in operation since 2005, is considered the most successful in all of Latin America.
It remains to be seen to what extent El Salvador Bitcoin can really only be mined using volcanic energy. But one thing is certain: it is a huge step forward – on the one hand for the independence of the Central American state, on the other hand also for a greener future for Bitcoin and other proof-of-work-based blockchains.
