A wind farm in Texas has found a new purpose: mining Bitcoin.
What’s happening:
- Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: MARA) has announced they have entered into a new deal to acquire a wind farm located in Hansford County, Texas
How it works:
- Marathon Digital will use the existing wind farm to provide energy at zero cost to mine Bitcoin at a data centre that is set to be built directly on site
- Marathon Digital will mine Bitcoin using older generation ASIC mining hardware when there is abundant wind energy and will reduce their mining operations when the available wind energy is lower, allowing them to keep the marginal cost of electricity to nearly zero at all times
Why it matters:
- Mining Bitcoin with renewable energy continues to attract more and more large scale companies, including European telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom launching a new pilot project focused on harnessing renewable energy from wind and solar projects to mine Bitcoin
Going deeper:
- Marathon Digital has been ramping up both their operations and their accumulation of Bitcoin lately, previously raising a billion dollars to purchase more Bitcoin to hold directly as an asset
The intrigue:
- Billionaires Bill Gates and Chris Sacca just recently led a financing round in climate tech startup Airloom Energy who is focused on reinventing the design and installation of wind turbines in order to increase their potential for generating power
