{"id":2218995,"date":"2024-04-11T22:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T02:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-bitcoin-mining-could-help-electrical-infrastructure-in-africa\/"},"modified":"2024-04-11T22:41:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T02:41:10","slug":"how-bitcoin-mining-could-help-electrical-infrastructure-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-bitcoin-mining-could-help-electrical-infrastructure-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the Impact of Bitcoin Mining on African Power Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-bitcoin-mining-could-help-electrical-infrastructure-in-africa%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2218995&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Bitcoin mining, often overlooked in discussions of sustainable development in Africa, holds \u200bpotential \u200dfor enhancing the continent&#8217;s power infrastructure\u2062 and expanding electricity access to rural areas. The process\u2064 involves using\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lebanon-locals-buying-groceries-with-crypto-due-to-currency-collapse\/\" title=\"Lebanon Locals Buying Groceries With Crypto Due to Currency Collapse\">high-powered computers<\/a> \u2064to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-exactly-is-bitcoin-heres-how-the-worlds-largest-cryptocurrency-actually-works\/\" title=\"What Exactly Is Bitcoin? Here\u2019s How The World\u2019s Largest Cryptocurrency Actually Works\">verify transactions<\/a> and is increasingly drawn to regions with abundant and inexpensive energy sources. This trend\u2063 could help\u200b electrify untapped areas in Africa through leveraging renewable energy for mining operations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>While one might not associate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>bitcoin<\/a> mining with sustainable development in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/africa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Africa<\/a>, some are predicting that the industry will help people across the continent.<\/p>\n<p>Africa is the least developed continent on Earth, with millions still without access to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/electricity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>electricity<\/a>. Bitcoin mining, the process of minting new bitcoins, could help to build up Africa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/buttigieg-claims-racism-is-physically-built-into-u-s-interstate-system\/\" title=\"Buttigieg Claims Racism Is \u2018Physically Built\u2019 Into U.S. Interstate System\">power grids<\/a> and provide electricity to rural communities.<\/p>\n<p>To understand the situation and how it could affect Africa, there needs to be a basic understanding of how bitcoin mining works.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam \u2013 over a mile long and 145 metres high could generate more than 6,000 megawatts. (Yirga Mengistu\/dpa\/Picture-Alliance\/Newscom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To \u201cmine\u201d for bitcoin, high-powered computers are used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/treasury-to-recommend-issuing-digital-dollar\/\" title=\"Treasury to recommend issuing 'digital dollar'\">verify virtual coin transactions<\/a>. Bitcoin operates on what is known as a blockchain, essentially a public ledger, which contains the history of every transaction. The miners\u2019 computers solve complicated math problems to add new blocks to the chain and are in turn rewarded with the digital token, making the endeavor profitable.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin prices have exploded over the past few months, making mining ever more attractive. Bitcoin has been hovering around $70,000 \u2014 that is up 155% in just the past six months alone and marks jaw-dropping 1,200% gains in the past five years as the cryptocurrency becomes more popular.<\/p>\n<p>Mining for the precious bitcoins requires a lot of energy, which is where Africa, plumb with opportunity, comes into play.<\/p>\n<p>During a recent interview with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, the Bitcoin Policy Institute\u2019s Grant McCarty pointed out that bitcoin miners go to where energy is cheapest and most available. He noted that an event called the halving is also set to occur this month.<\/p>\n<p>About every four years, the block rewards for bitcoin miners get slashed in half, reducing the supply of new bitcoins by 50%. That makes the product a scarcer commodity and tends to raise its price in the following months. So in the coming years, as more halvings occur, cheaper energy will be needed to maintain profit margins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere\u2019s the cheapest energy in the world? Well, it\u2019s where energy is just being wasted. Where it\u2019s being generated but it can\u2019t be monetized,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cIncreasingly, what we\u2019re seeing is bitcoin miners are using wind, they\u2019re using solar, they\u2019re using hydro runoff, they\u2019re using a ton of renewable and sustainable energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said bitcoin miners are expected to set up shop using untapped renewable energy not only in the United States but in places like Africa, where there is a ton of energy generation but no buyers. He said that new parts of Africa may become electrified because of the energy grids built out due to bitcoin miners:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a bunch of parts of Africa that essentially going to be able to electrify, bring grids online \u2026 because they are going to be able to use bitcoin miners to purchase energy and then build out an efficient energy grid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> during an interview on the sidelines of the Bitcoin Policy Institute\u2019s annual summit on April 9 in Washington, D.C., Jayson Browder, head of public policy for Marathon Digital Holdings, explained that in Africa in particular, there is a mismatch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nearly-half-of-texas-wind-turbines-frozen-in-winter-storm-limiting-states-power-output\/\" title=\"Nearly Half Of Texas\u2019 Wind Turbines Frozen In Winter Storm Limiting State\u2019s Power Output\">power generation<\/a> and power usage.<\/p>\n<p>He said that over the last decade a lot of international organizations and governments have encouraged African countries to build these very large power generation facilities. But there isn\u2019t the demand yet in those regions to use all of that excess power, given limited electric grid build-out, which is why bitcoin miners are increasingly interested in using that cheaper excess energy to mine for the cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see Bitcoin mining as a tool that these governments can then leverage to help solve some of the energy challenges they have,\u201d Crowder said. \u201cSome of these assets are stranded or underutilized. Because the bitcoin miners are modular, you can move them anywhere \u2014 we can set up right next to the hydro project, monetize that asset that was not producing anything, and then the government can then use that money to then incentivize the build-out of those utility lines to wherever the energy needs to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crowder explained that if, several years down the line, the partnership has resulted in utility lines being built out and the energy is being used at full capacity for that area\u2019s citizens, the miners can then relatively easily move to another energy asset.  <\/p>\n<p>Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that the phenomenon involves \u201cthe market realizing that every single power generation station in a place that doesn\u2019t really have a grid wastes energy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gladstein said that a common narrative in the media is that bitcoin wastes energy, although he said that the opposite is true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo the market is going to realize that bitcoin is the technology that you use to save that wasted energy,\u201d he said. \u201cSo people are coming in and setting up bitcoin mining and saving that wasted energy so that there\u2019s no more waste.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said that bitcoin miners are setting up shop in remote places like Africa and finding the wasted power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of a sudden now, the bitcoin network is buying that energy and providing the local companies with capital that they need to expand,\u201d he said, noting that massive number of people in Africa who are still without electricity.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking during a panel during the summit in Washington, Charlene Fadirepo, CEO of Mango Digital Strategies, said that through miners setting up shop in places like Africa, \u201cyou\u2019re creating electricity and bringing it to rural communities that have never had electricity before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKids can study at night; kids get the chance to not use paraffin lamps. So, you have health outcomes that are improved,\u201d she said of further electrification of rural communities in Africa.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although not commonly linked to sustainable development in Africa, bitcoin mining is seen as a potential aid for the continent. In Africa, where millions lack electricity access, this industry could potentially enhance power infrastructure by supporting the growth of local power grids<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2683,"featured_media":2218996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BizCover-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BizCover-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}