Large miners of the industry are going to Kazakhstan as that country has cheap electricity. El Salvador has volcanic, hydroelectric, solar, and wind energy, which would allow miners to avoid using fossil fuels.
The growing repression against the industry has prompted Chinese Bitcoin (BTC) miners to relocate their operations to other countries. For example, the manufacturer of ASIC equipment Canaan decided to mine the cryptocurrency in Kazakhstan.
They said that Kazakhstan has abundant energy sources and is the ninth-largest producer of coal in the world. The country is also a large producer of other fossil fuels such as natural gas.
For miners forced to emigrate, Kazakhstan is an attractive destination since it produces more than twice its energy demand. That situation allows it to offer cheap electricity to Bitcoin mining farms looking for a place to settle.
Chinese mining companies are currently looking for new alternatives, seeing diversification as a “logical step” in their development. They not only manufacture equipment but are also looking to produce the necessary computing power to mine Bitcoin. Bans on mining in various provinces of China have caused a hash rate reduction of up to 50% in the last month.
Some of the mining companies in Canton, in the northeast of Hong Kong, are moving their equipment to Maryland, the United States.
El Salvador and Argentina Could Attract Bitcoin Miners
In recent years, the Bitcoin hash rate had increased significantly, mainly in China. That country has produced much of the computing power behind Bitcoin, but it looks as though that will change.
Due to its proximity to China, Kazakhstan emerges as a possible candidate for miners looking for new spaces to settle. The United States and Canada are other options where there are already large Bitcoin mining farms.
However, El Salvador and Argentina are also Latin American countries with potential for Bitcoin mining. For example, the Canadian company Bitfarms has been planning to build a gigantic Bitcoin mining center in Argentina.
Likewise, El Salvador has a plan to offer Bitcoin mining facilities with very cheap energy. According to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, this energy is 100% clean and renewable and takes advantage of volcanic activity.
In addition to volcanic energy, El Salvador has other sources that can contribute to encouraging Bitcoin mining. The country is building a large hydroelectric plant with a generation capacity of 67 megawatts (MW).
That nation is also building the largest wind farm in Central America, which has 10 of its 15 wind turbines. These are the highest in the region (120 meters high), which allows them to inject electrical energy into the national grid.
In December, the AES El Salvador company opened a solar power plant that generates 5.2 MWp of sustainable energy. That same company also developed another project generating 100 MW of renewable energy through 10 solar plants. Due to its diversity of energy sources, El Salvador is becoming a country with great potential for Bitcoin mining.
By Alexander Salazar
