The American mining company Genesis Digital Assets (GDA) has opened a data center in Argentina to extract the first cryptocurrency using energy from the combustion of associated gas.
At the initial stage, a local partner, the energy company YPF.Luz, will provide power to 1,200 ASIC miners from a thermal power plant powered by flare gas.
The capacity of the facility is 7 MW with a reserve of 1 MW. It is located in Rincon de Los Sauces (Neuquen province).
The company noted that the project contributes to reducing methane emissions as a result of bitcoin mining, since the greenhouse effect of associated gas is sharply reduced when burning. GDA expects, together with YPF.Luz and the mining company Equinor, to "contribute to positive changes in the environment."
https://forklog.com/exclusive/ranshe-kripta-byla-zelenee-est-li-budushhee-u-ekologichnogo-majningaAccording to the statement, GDA is in the process of market expansion and, at the time of writing, operates 20 data centers in the Americas, Europe and Central Asia.
In August 2023, the firm expanded its bitcoin mining capacity in Sweden with the launch of an 8 MW enterprise.
In 2021, GDA entered into a strategic partnership with miner manufacturer Canaan, which provides for an option to purchase 200,000 devices.
"We believe that Argentina is an important country for bitcoin mining, given its abundance of energy sources and favorable business environment. The opening of the first data center in South America is an important step towards geographical diversification. And this is another opportunity to show that mining can have a positive impact on the environment," said Abdumalik Mirakhmedov, Executive President of GDA.
In March 2024, the American company Giga Energy launched in Argentina a pilot project for bitcoin mining using flare gas energy in Mendoza province.
The approach of the Texas-based firm copies the strategy of fellow countrymen from Crusoe Energy to place container installations next to oil rigs.
In December 2023, Crusoe invested in the startup Unblock Global, which began mining bitcoin in Argentina by burning associated gas at the same Vaca Muerta field in Mendoza.
Following the results of the elections in November, Javier Miley, a supporter of the first cryptocurrency, became president of the country.
In neighboring Paraguay, the mining boom has caused unexpected consequences
In February 2023, Hashrate Index experts concluded that Paraguay, bordering Argentina in the north, was becoming an important bitcoin mining center.
One of their main factors was the world's second largest hydroelectric power plant, Itaipu. The company covers the needs of the country with a huge surplus.
Given the attractive conditions, American companies like Sazmining and Marathon Digital, the largest public miner, have opened data centers in Paraguay.
But in April 2024, a group of senators introduced a bill to Congress to suspend cryptocurrency mining activities for 180 days or more, depending on the conditions. Lawmakers were concerned about losses from the theft of electricity by illegal miners, as well as power outages caused by industry participants.
According to Hashlabs Mining co-founder Jaran Mellerud, the adoption of the bill would have resulted in more than $200 million in lost revenue for the country over the year.
As a result, the Senate suspended consideration of the bill, paying attention to the financial side. The politicians decided to hold public hearings in order to assess the advantages and disadvantages of mining development in the country.
One of the bitcoin mining enterprises in Paraguay, as part of efforts to improve the ecology of its activities, directed the heat generated in the process to the production of dried mango.
Eco-friendly mining ideas are gaining momentum
Bitcoin miners find a wide variety of ways to utilize the heat generated by the equipment. A bathhouse in New York, for example, used it to keep the water temperature in the pool. However, when the customers found out about it, their reaction was mixed.
In the Norwegian town of Sortland, KryptoVault has organized the drying of wood and algae using thermal energy from mining. Despite the creation of jobs, residents turned against miners because of the noise created by the data center.
Marathon has launched a pilot project in the United States to mine bitcoin using landfill gas combustion energy.
Greenidge Generation in Dresden (New York) is disposing of waste from an old coal-fired power plant for mining cryptocurrency.
Recall that the division of the payment giant PayPal announced an initiative to stimulate the "green" mining of digital assets.