El Salvador's Bitcoin miner Volcano Energy launches with $250M investment
The public-private partnership in El Salvador to pump $1 billion into creating a Bitcoin (BTC) mining farm has received its first $250 million. This first release of funds kickstarts 241 megawatts (MWs) of Bitcoin mining in El Salvador.
The chairman of Volcano Energy, Max Keiser, took to his Twitter on June 7, to announce the news. Volcano Energy the renewable energy developer said the funds would go toward an estimated 241 MW power generation park using solar and wind energy in the northwestern municipality of Metapan, which will eventually power the bitcoin mining farm.
.@Volcano_Energy receives the first $250M of a $1 billion commitment that kickstarts 241 MW’s of #Bitcoin mining in El Salvador. “We Got The Power” https://t.co/j2wE6UJq0O pic.twitter.com/db3PZvFo4q
Bitcoin mining uses high-power computers hooked up to a global network, sucking up massive amounts of electricity in the process. The energy-intensive practice has come under fire from environmentalists who are concerned that it would exacerbate forest loss and climate change.
Tether is named among the investors in a first-round capital raise to develop Volcano Energy although their investment figure is still undisclosed. Tether chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino said the investment marks the stablecoin issuer's intent to drive investment in renewable energy production as well as mining infrastructure.
According to Volcano Energy, the estimated 241 MW power generation capacity will be divided between 169MW of photovoltaic solar energy and 72MW of wind energy. According to Tether, the computing power of the park is estimated to exceed 1.3 exahashes per second. If achieved, this would position Volcano Energy's cumulative Bitcoin mining hash rate among the top
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