El Salvador mined its first bitcoin using volcanic energy, President Nayib Bukele tweets

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Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele tweeted that his country mined Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, using energy from a volcano. He shared an image of the ongoing mining, which showed 0.00599179 Bitcoin, worth around $ 284 (around Rs.21,098) at the current trading rate. Last month, El Salvador became the first country in the world to give Bitcoin legal tender status alongside the US dollar. The nationwide rollout, through its crypto wallet Chivo, had initially taken a bumpy road, but technical issues appear to have stabilized and the Central American country is moving forward with its crypto experiment.

Almost 25 percent of domestic energy production in El Salvador comes from geothermal energy. President Bukele tweeted on October 1 about El Salvador’s first attempt to harness energy from volcanoes to power Bitcoin mining.

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Nayib Bukele ???????? (@nayibbukele) October 1, 2021

Indicating that the mining project was still a work in progress, the president tweeted, We are still testing and installing, but this is officially the first Bitcoin extraction from the volcano.

We are still testing and installing, but this is officially the first #Bitcoin mining of #volcanode ????

Nayib Bukele ???????? (@nayibbukele) October 1, 2021

However, this is not the first time that energy from volcanoes has been used to mine Bitcoin. Previously, Iceland and Norway used geothermal and hydroelectric power to mine cryptocurrency. These countries take advantage of cheap energy sources to power their mining machines. The low temperatures in these countries are also an advantage as they naturally cool computer servers.

In June, President Bukele called on state-owned geothermal power company LaGeo to make efforts to ensure that the energy costs associated with mining Bitcoin are reduced.

I just asked the president of @LaGeoSV (our state-owned geothermal power company) to put in place a plan to offer facilities for mining #Bitcoin with very cheap, 100% clean, 100% energy. % renewable, 0 energy emission from our volcanoes ????

It will evolve quickly! ???????? pic.twitter.com/1316DV4YwT

Nayib Bukele ???????? (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021

El Salvador is known for its volcanoes. Geothermal energy represents nearly a quarter of its domestic energy production. The country’s latest move is a welcome step in the direction of using renewable energy to mine cryptocurrency. It will also address some concerns about the carbon footprint of the cryptocurrency mining process.

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting Founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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