Bitcoin miners rely on nuclear power for sustainable energy generation

Key players in the Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry have their sights set on nuclear power as the pressure to go green increases.

GRIID Vice President Harry Sudok said at the Bitcoin & Beyond Virtual Summit on November 10th. GRIDD is an American company that buys low-cost, renewable energy to build Bitcoin mining facilities.

According to Sudock, previous funding programs and discourses on renewable energies have mainly focused on solar and wind power and neglected the potential advantages of nuclear energy.

“The growth rate is mostly focused on solar and wind power, and that’s just the reality of the programs that have been launched in the last 8-10 years. But what we want to see is the expansion of the core, ”he said.

Samson Mow, Blockstream’s Chief Strategy Officer, was a panelist alongside Sudock to discuss the intricacies of Bitcoin mining and energy use.

Mow mentioned the authoritarian role “FUD” plays in discussions about Bitcoin mining, which can lead to misunderstandings not only about Bitcoin mining but also about energy production in general.

These misconceptions “lead to crazy headlines that Bitcoin will boil the ocean,” he said.

“The real big picture is often overlooked because bitcoin mining accounts for a small percentage of global energy use – about one percent,” Mow said. “When we’re dirty, everything is very dirty, isn’t it?”

Mow is also a proponent of nuclear power for bitcoin mining. “The thing is, we’ve regressed as a society where we’ve got rid of nuclear power and switched to other things like wind and sun, which are more expensive and harder to do,” Mow always says.

Related: The climate chain alliance advocates the creation of a green economy at COP26

Last month, the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) polled about 33% of the current global Bitcoin network. BMC estimates that the global mining industry’s total sustainable power generation increased about 3% to 55.9% in the third quarter of this year.

“Bitcoin miners will use the cheapest electricity they can find,” said Amanda Fabiano at the conference. Fabiano is Head of Mining at the digital asset investment management company Galaxy Digital and a founding member of BMC.

“I think sustainable centralized capital will find a really great home in Bitcoin mining.”