Greenidge Joins List of Bitcoin Miners Diversifying Energy Sources
In a year where ESG concerns have dominated headlines, this is one of many public moves to help the decentralized currency lower its energy usage.
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key takeaways
- The upstate New York mining firm, which formerly sparked controversy for its mining expansion plan, wants to reduce bitcoin’s impact on the environment
- “There’s a definite righteous and rightful shift towards environmental and impact awareness in the mining community,” said Garrette David, an advisor to Regen Network
U.S.-based bitcoin miners continue their push for an ESG-minded business model as Greenidge Generation Holdings said it will acquire 8,300 bitcoin mining rigs via a new partnership with Foundry Digital, in hopes to reduce its environmental impacts and diversify its energy sources, according to a joint press release.
Greenidge is set to buy 2,300 WhatsMiner M30S mining rigs and will acquire 6,000 Antminer S19 machines in a financing deal through Foundry Digital, which is a cryptocurrency mining and staking-focused subsidiary of Digital Currency Group. They will also join the Foundry USA bitcoin mining pool, according to the release.
“Foundry has been a longtime hosting customer of Greenidge and this partnership expands our existing relationship as Greenidge grows outside of New York,” said CEO of Greenidge, Jeffrey Kirt.
The upstate New York mining firm, which formerly sparked controversy for its mining expansion plan, wants to reduce bitcoin’s impact on the environment. The company said it wants to counteract emissions from rigs with carbon offset credit purchases.
“Greenidge has pioneered the integration of a clean power plant operation and carbon-neutral cryptocurrency mining in North America with its operation in Upstate New York,” said Mike Colyer, CEO of Foundry.
In a year where ESG concerns have dominated headlines, this is one of many public moves to help bitcoin miners lower their energy usage.
“There’s a definite righteous and rightful shift towards environmental and impact awareness in the mining community,” said former miner and advisor to Regen Network, Garrette David to Blockworks.
A California nuclear energy provider, Oklo, aims to produce clean energy through advanced fission and announced a 20-year partnership with Compass Mining on Wednesday.
Bitcoin is “a huge market opportunity for clean energy generation,” Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte said in an interview with Crain’s Cleveland. Along the same lines, Energy Harbor also partnered with Standard Power to provide carbon-free nuclear power to bitcoin miners at a data center in Ohio, according to a statement this week.
