For miners, Bitcoin halves are a stressful event. While Bitcoiners gather around the globe to celebrate block 840,000 and prepare for the 50% reduction in their mining rewards, the costs of the operations remain the same.
Then, you can use the next Bitcoin halving to take place on April 19One might think that Fred Thiel CEO of Marathon Digital HoldingsThe largest Bitcoin mining firm in the world could be concerned. Thiel doesn’t seem to have a problem after spending a few minutes with him just a couple of days prior to the halving.
Why’s that?
Marathon intends to use the heat generated by its bitcoin mining machines as a source of alternative revenue streams.
“Bitcoin mining in and of itself does something very efficiently, which is produce heat,” Thiel spoke to Bitcoin Magazine. “50% of industrial energy spend is spent to heat things, so imagine if you could capture the heat from Bitcoin miners and Bitcoin miners could get paid for that. That would subsidize their cost of electricity.”
The Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming (R) was interviewed at a Fireside Chat during the Bitcoin Policy SummitThiel gave an example on how Marathon intends to use the heat produced by its miner’s.
“One of the things we’re doing in Nebraska actually is we’re starting to heat greenhouses and do shrimp farming using the heat from Bitcoin mining as a byproduct,” Thiel explained Senator Lummis.
“I think you’re going to start seeing this as a way for people to grow proteins in areas of the disadvantaged world,” He also added.
Thiel hopes to shift the public’s perception about Bitcoin mining. It’s no longer seen as a parasitic activity, but rather viewed positively.
Marathon is continuing to develop its capability to use its waste gas to fuel its miners.
Marathon began a pilot program in 2023 that it mined bitcoin with energy derived solely with landfill methaneA gas 80 times more powerful as a greenhouse agent than CO2.
Thiel said that the project had been a great success.
“It was a proof of concept that showed that you could successfully mine bitcoin using landfill methane gas,” Bitcoin Magazine quoted him. “Mining on landfills is very hard, but we were able to prove that you could do it quite successfully.”
Thiel explained these efforts to Senator Lummis in his interview. Thiel tied the Marathon’s plans for producing this heat with the positive environmental impact.
“You generate energy with that by turning it into methane and then converting that into electricity and you create heat with the electricity,” He told Senator Lummis. “If you can take a waste product, turn it into energy and feed heat back into an industrial process, you do more for the environment than a lot of environmentalists want. And at the same time, your cost to mine bitcoin becomes very small because your energy cost is low.”
“This article is not financial advice.”
“Always do your own research before making any type of investment.”
“ItsDailyCrypto is not responsible for any activities you perform outside ItsDailyCrypto.”
Source: bitcoinmagazine.com