Hut 8 has just acquired 4 gas-fired power plants in Ontario, Canada, generating a combined 310 megawatts of power. This will increase the environmental impact of the company’s Bitcoin mining.
The Bitcoin mining industry is reconnecting with its old demons with this acquisition frenzy for power generation sites. In fact, in the face of a rise in the price of the cryptocurrency queen, the mining industry is once again taking off with a bang and capacity is urgently needed to power the machines.
Hut 8 Mining Corp is an emblematic case: it is one of the large Bitcoin miners that is listed on the Nasdaq exchange. The stock is up 43% over the past 5 sessions and up 180% year-to-date. So things are kicked up to the point that the group needs electrical capacity. Rather than buying grid capacity or building their own self-powered farms, as was once the fashion especially with solar power or agricultural biomass, society now needs it big and fast.
Environmental costs
Hut 8 has therefore acquired 4 gas-fired power plants in Ontario, Canada, which generate a combined power of 310 megawatts, Korii media reports. Hut 8 continues to buy, after several purchases of the same type this year again in Canada, but also in the United States, in Texas, Nebraska.
“The use of natural gas and coal-fired power plants to mine cryptocurrencies is known for its environmental costs and has been condemned for years: noise, pollution, contamination of cellars and groundwater. So many inconveniences that don’t seem like it, don’t worry.” too much about cottage 8″, the media underlines.
Other miners go even harder. Recently, one of Hut 8’s competitors bragged about creating a mining chain that relied on burning old tires.
In short, this year’s surge in prices puts bitcoin miners in the position of developing countries, caught between the desire to benefit from growth and demand dynamics and environmental considerations.
Is the environmental record of bitcoin mining, which has tended to make real progress in recent years, fading?