A Public-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP in El Salvador Has Received ITS FIRST $ 250 Million in Funding after Committing $ 1 Billion to create a bitcoin (BTC) MinIn Farm. This FIRST Transche of Funding Kick-Started A 241 Megawatt (MW) Power Park in the Country's Metapán region.
Volcano Energy, the company behind the site, said the funds would be used to develop a power park using solar and wind energy that would eventually power bitcoin mining operations. Volcano Energy chairman Max Keizer announced the news on Twitter on June 7. Bitcoin mining uses powerful computers connected to a global network, using a lot of electricity in the process. The energy-intensive practice has come under fire from environmentalists who fear it will exacerbate forest loss and climate change. Stablecoin issuer Tether was one of the invest ors in the first round of funding to develop Volcano Energy, although the figure for its investment was undisclosed. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino said the investment marks the stablecoin issuer's intention to promote investment in renewable energy production and mining infrastructure.
According to Volcano Energy, the 241 MW of generating capacity will be split between 169 MW of photovoltaic solar and 72 MW of wind. According to Tether, the computing power of the campus is estimated to exceed 1.3 exahashes per second. If realized, this would put Volcano Energy's cumulative bitcoin mining hashrate among the top 20 mining pools in the world.
According to Volcano Energy, the campus is a pioneer in renewable energy-powered bitcoin mining, reflecting the industry's continued innovation and growth in the competitive landscape: "Flipping the traditional finance playbook. Volcano Energy is powering El Salvador's bitcoin revolution with renewable energy." The Government of El Salvador will play a key role in the planning and implementation of the initiative, ensuring priority participation equivalent to 23% of revenues. Investors will own 27 percent of the shares, with the remaining 50 percent used to expand energy production capacity and advance bitcoin mining.
Keiser, a Bitcoin advocate and podcaster, has played a key role in El Salvador's adoption initiatives, serving as an advisor to President Nayib Bukele and chairman of Volcano Energy.
The Central American country continues to push for bitcoin adoption after becoming the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender in 2021.
