U.S. miners raise $ 105 million to recycle waste coal into cryptocurrency

Pennsylvania-based Stronghold Digital Mining announced the completion of two private equity acquisitions for $ 105 million.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the company’s first power generation plant, the Scrubgrass Generating Plant in Venango County, converts waste coal on a scale comparable to “a large hydroelectric power plant”, converting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Stronghold’s recycled waste coal was produced in coal mining in the 19th and 20th centuries. Stronghold’s power generation processes make it possible to restore large tracts of land devastated by the system.

AMD describes a process in which rain or snow mixes with sulfur in coal waste, which can enter water systems and threaten aquatic life. After removing the waste coal, Stronghold also plans to donate the restored land to the local community.

The company estimates that for every bitcoin mined, 200 tons of coal waste will be destroyed.

“The coal waste has ravaged my home state of Pennsylvania for hundreds of years,” said Stronghold Vice Chairman Bill Spence, adding:

“We are using 21st century cryptomining techniques to overcome the effects of 19th and 20th century coal mining in some of the most environmentally neglected areas of the United States.”

Working with local environmental agencies, Stronghold has reclaimed 1,000 acres in Pennsylvania that it describes as “non-disposable”. In addition to eliminating more than 98% of mercury, NOx and SO2 emissions, the company’s manufacturing process also produces fly ash that can be used as a fertilizer.

Stronghold hopes to have more than 28,000 active crypto miners by 2022 and is in talks to acquire assets with a generating capacity of more than 200 megawatts.

The price spike comes as the bitcoin community becomes increasingly environmentally conscious, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously reversing the electric vehicle maker’s decision to accept bitcoin payments and citing the environmental impact of coal mining.

Earlier this month, Musk indicated that Tesla would consider resuming support for BTC if the mining sector is to run on at least 50% clean energy.

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The controversy over the environmental footprint of creating Bitcoin has contributed to the sharp downtrend in North American publicly traded mining stocks in recent months, which has fallen by around 50 to 60% since an all-time high was announced.

While the broader bearish crypto trend is showing little sign of slowing down, independent investment bank Compass Point has a buy rating on Riot Blockchain (RIOT) and Marathon Digital (MARA) – noting that the company has BTC at a discount of 62. generates% or 70% of the spot price.