Get the weekly summary of crypto market analysis, news, and forecasts! This Week’s Summary The crypto market ends the week at a total market capitalization of $1,09 trillion. Bitcoin is up by over 2% to reach around $27,200. Ethereum increased by nearly 6% to close to $1,700. XRP gained almost 2% in value during a highly volatile week. Almost all altcoins are trading in the green, with virtually no exceptions. The DeFi sector maintains the total value of protocols (TVL)…
Progress With El Salvador’s Geothermal Bitcoin Mining Project
El Salvador has continued to stay fresh among crypto investors. The country made a landmark decision to approve Bitcoin as a legal tender earlier this month.
However, El Salvador isn’t stopping there. The government has found another frontier to conquer – the mining space.
Turning Volcanoes to Money
On Tuesday, El Salvador’s president Nayibb Bukele teased a coming geothermal crypto mining operation. Bukele shared a video on Twitter. In it, he revealed progress with work on the facility. The proposed project will allocate significant resources towards crypto mining. Interestingly, El Salvador’s volcanoes will power it all.
Bukele didn’t provide any details about the project. His office has also kept mute on any details on it. So, no one knows what the government is planning. However, this isn’t the first time that Bukele will promote a crypto mining project.
In June, Bukele tweeted that he had instructed the state-controlled electrical company to make Bitcoin mining possible. Bukele said that El Salvador’s volcanoes offer cheap, clean, and renewable energy. So, they will be able to facilitate crypto mining. LaGeo – the electrical company in question – operates two geothermal power plants in El Salvador. The company is also trying to construct two more, increasing its capacity.
It is worth noting that the details of the project are still unclear. But, El Salvador’s government has shown significant interest in crypto. In addition, the company has a lot of geothermal energy, and it could indeed focus that energy on crypto mining.
A Win for Everyone Involved
A focus on mining is good for El Salvador. China has held a significant portion of Bitcoin’s hash rate for years now. But, the country is now cracking down on mining. The Chinese government has issued several orders to outlaw crypto mining this year. Due to this, many mining firms have left the country too.
Many of these companies will be looking to settle somewhere for now. So, El Salvador could welcome them. The country’s abundance of power allows mining firms to spend less on operations. At the same time, they will remit taxes to El Salvador and improve the country’s economy.
There’s also the environmental benefit that this will bring. Many have criticized crypto mining as being energy-intensive this year. So, access to geothermal energy will help to address some of these issues once and for all.
For now, the only challenge is whether El Salvador will be able to handle the power demand. If this geothermal project does come to pass, demand will surge. Therefore, the country will need to be prepared.