El Salvador receives its first Bitcoin mining pool with the partnership of Volcano Energy and Luxor.
El Salvador officially launched its first local Bitcoin mining pool as the Volcano Energy project begins mining blocks through Lava Pool in partnership with Luxor Technology.
The country’s USD 1 billion Bitcoin-friendly renewable energy project made headlines in early 2023, with stablecoin issuer Tether among the companies investing in the project that plans to generate electricity from renewable sources in El Salvador to power future Bitcoin mining operations in the country.
Volcano Energy is leveraging Luxor’s expertise in providing Bitcoin mining software and services. The project will also use Luxor’s Hashrate Forward Marketplace to mitigate market volatility through automated risk management strategies used by other major Bitcoin mining operators.
Bitcoin has the potential to pay off its climate debt much sooner than solar energy, and, thanks to its ability to mitigate methane, it can address more urgent challenges. 🌍💡 #Bitcoin #ClimateAction
— Volcano Energy 🇸🇻🌋🔌 (@Volcano_Energy) October 3, 2023
A statement from Volcano Energy’s chief strategy officer, Gerson Martinez, highlighted El Salvador’s ongoing efforts to secure the advantage of being the first nation-state to adopt Bitcoin:
“Our vision is to create a vertically integrated Bitcoin mining and energy company whose value is accretive to investors and all Salvadoran citizens.”
Ethan Vera, chief operating officer of Luxor, said the establishment of Volcano Energy and the start of local Bitcoin mining will contribute to BTC’s philosophy of geographic decentralization.
The announcement also mentions the potential for countries with abundant renewable energy sources to use Bitcoin mining to improve the economics of new energy projects. Mining operations can provide a “flexible buyer of first and last resort” for energy producers and act as an alternative revenue source.
As a public-private partnership, Volcano Energy is expected to contribute 23% of its net revenues from mining operations to the government of El Salvador. Mining profits will also be reinvested in power transmission and infrastructure to stimulate economic and technological growth in the Central American nation.
The first phase of the Volcano Energy project involves the construction of a 241-megawatt (MW) renewable energy park in Metapán, which will consist of 169 MW of solar photovoltaic power and 72 MW of wind power. The long-term goal of the project is to take advantage of the abundant geothermal energy in the country.
In a previous exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Money20/20 conference in Amsterdam, Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s chief technology officer, said the company’s investment was aimed at diversifying its interests in energy production and using renewable energy to mine Bitcoin.
Cointelegraph journalist Joe Hall traveled to El Salvador in 2023, documenting the adoption of Bitcoin as a means of payment in the two years since the country officially became the first in the world to have BTC recognized as legal tender.
Source:
https://es.cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-first-bitcoin-mining-pool-volcano-energy-luxor
