By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, had hinted at mining Bitcoin with the country’s volcanoes serving as an energy source. On Tuesday, the president announced via a tweet that the program has commenced. President Nayib also shared a video showing one of the volcano wells, some cargo trucks and mining rigs.
Based on his previous statements, president Nayib revealed that the Bitcoin mining project will be powered by volcano wells. The El Salvadoran government noted that the project is geared toward maximizing the natural resource. If it turns out successful, El Salvador will become the first country to mine Bitcoin with a volcano just as it is regarded as the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender.
El Salvador to Become First Country to Mine Bitcoin with Volcano
President Bukele had gotten the volcano suggestion during a Twitter Spaces conversation in June. The president is assiduously working toward bringing the project to fruition just as he did see to it that Bitcoin is legalized in the country. President Nayib has been the linchpin behind the Bitcoin movement in the Central American country being a die-hard proponent himself. He first declared his love for Bitcoin during the 2020 Bitcoin Conference in July, where he also broached the topic of Bitcoin legalization for the first time.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin law took effect earlier this month albeit controversially. There were controversies around the implementation of the law after rumors emerged that all businesses in the country must adhere to the provisions of the law. Although president Bukele alleged that execution of the law was voluntary, businesses that refused to accept Bitcoin payments were reportedly threatened with sanctions.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law Faces Teething Problems
The Chivo Bitcoin wallet which launched at the operation of the law faced technical issues as well. In the same period, there were reports of protests from critics. Several Chivo stores and part of the 200 Bitcoin ATMs set up were torched by the protesters.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin-Volcano mining program is also spurred by rising concerns about the environmental effects of mining operations. Citing carbon pollution from Bitcoin mining, Asian giant China issued a ban earlier this year. Since the ban, there have been several suggestions on clean energy sources.
While others have suggested hydroelectricity, manure, El Salvador is turning toward volcanoes as an energy source. As of August, the Bitcoin Mining Council reported that clean energy mining had leapt to 56%. With El Salvador’s mining project already underway, clean energy mining will improve as well as the global hash rate for Bitcoin. One of the benefits of El Salvador’s Bitcoin law as acknowledged by president Bukele is the elimination of high remittance costs.
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