A five-year agreement has been signed by Energy Harbor Corp with Standard Power in an effort to introduce a Bitcoin (BTC) mining operation that is environmentally friendly in nature. This operation shall take place in Ohio.
Everyone is aware of the fact that China’s recent actions and decision to stop BTC mining in the country has had a devastating impact on the cryptocurrency industry and market, with Bitcoin’s price falling dramatically. However, situations such as these also represent potential opportunities for many who believe that this may lead to sustainable (and, more importantly, profitable) alternatives that can be used to make crypto more eco-friendly.
The search is on
The combination of Elon Musk’s actions regarding BTC and Tesla with that of what has occurred in China has ultimately led to a kind of vacuum in the crypto industry. Everyone acknowledges the opportunity to explore different eco-friendlier alternatives, and some have already begun exploring this option, as was the case with the Mechanicville hydro-electric power plant in New York utilizing excess energy to mine BTC in a renewable way.
Energy Harbor Corp has thus decided to join in, and the aforementioned multi-year agreement had been signed. Standard Power, the one with whom the deal had been signed, is essentially a top hosting provider for numerous blockchain mining organizations, and it shall now be utilizing nuclear energy alongside Energy Harbor Corp in the hopes that BTC mining centres can have access to clean energy.
Right now, the details of this agreement are not fully known, nor has the complete plan and infrastructure of actually carrying out this initiative been revealed to the public. Furthermore, the electricity usage that Energy Harbor Corp shall be involved in has also yet to be disclosed, but the company has stated that renewable energy shall be utilized to carry out all operations.
Bitcoin needs to become eco-friendly
Rather understandably, there has been much concern regarding Bitcoin mining as it consumes a massive amount of energy (even more than some countries) and is harmful to the environment. This was the reason that Elon Musk cited for removing the cryptocurrency from Tesla, and it was also one of the main factors which led to China’s recent crackdown.
Numerous politicians and governments have thus claimed that Bitcoin simply demands too much in order to function correctly and that it has ended up causing more damage than anything else. Other PoW cryptocurrencies have also been accused of this, particularly the ones that need an abundance of hashing power.
Janet Yellen, the U.S Treasury Secretary, had stated that Bitcoin is not efficient at all when it comes to conducting transactions and that a viable eco-friendly alternative will eventually have to be discovered and implemented if it wants to survive long term.