El Salvador’s Geothermal Initiative Mines 474 Bitcoin
El Salvador’s presence in the cryptocurrency world is heating up right now. Central America mined over 474 bitcoins from the Tecapa Volcano in the last three years using the volcano’s geodynamics. This green initiative gave El Salvador a national crypto repository that is now worth about $354 million made significant progress.
The government of President Nayeb Bukele had commissioned 300 special plants to harness 1.5 MW of the volcano’s 102 MW of geothermal capacity, equivalent to 5 % of the volcano’s total geothermal potential, which is used for the same purpose.
This radical approach has raised over $29 million from 2021. El Salvador currently has a national bitcoin reserve that has reached 5750 bitcoins, which is a huge figure. However, the decision to legalize Bitcoin has affected the US. dollar in 2021 was preceded by fierce debate. The IMF opposed the decision due to the volatility of the cryptocurrency.
The volcanic bitcoin experiment in El Salvador brings a lot of interesting questions to the table about what the future of cryptocurrency mining will look like. Is the use of geothermal energy poised to create a less environmentally friendly crypto industry? While El Salvador has clean energy to mine, the environmental impact of massive crypto mining elsewhere remains a major problem.
The development comes at a pivotal time for El Salvador which made headlines last year by becoming the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender. President Naib Bukele’s bold vision to embrace cryptocurrency as a means to add currency and boost financial momentum has attracted international attention and fueled the global discussion on the future of currency.
Conclusion: As El Salvador continues to seek innovative solutions for sustainable growth and prosperity, the success of its geothermal initiative is a testament to the transformative power of renewable energy and decentralized economies.