Square to fund $5mn bitcoin mining facility with 100% renewable energy

Blockchain technology company Blockstream Mining said on Saturday that Square Inc (SQ.N) will invest $5 million to build an open-source, solar-powered bitcoin mining facility at one of Blockstream’s US sites.

Blockstream, in an announcement on its blog on Saturday, said the “facility will be a proof-of-concept for a 100 per cent renewable energy Bitcoin mine at scale.”

Blockstream added that the project would be part of its Bitcoin Clean Energy Initiative. Blockstream also participates with the Bitcoin Mining Council, which promotes clean energy in bitcoin mining — Tesla’s Elon Musk is also a member.

“Together, we plan to provide public transparency by sharing the project economics and knowledge we’ve gained from building a Bitcoin mine powered by renewable energy. Ultimately, we hope to demonstrate how bitcoin mining in conjunction with renewable energy can help drive the clean energy transition,” the blog said.

“Our solar mining facilities are designed to be scalable, enabling us to add additional capacity and support more participants to significantly expand renewable mining operations.”

Blockstream intends to make the facility entirely transparent, with all statistics on power generation and mining available to the public.

The dashboard, based on technology developed for the BMN, aims to be available 24/7 from any browser, providing the industry with a real-world, real-time case study of a renewable energy bitcoin mine.

Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who is also CEO of Twitter, is a strong supporter of Bitcoin In 2018, Dorsey said that he thinks bitcoin will become the world’s single currency within 10 years. Square invested $50 million in bitcoin in October , adding another $170 million in February.

Payments firm Square is considering creating a non-custodial hardware wallet for bitcoin, the company’s chief executive officer, Jack Dorsey said in a tweet on Friday.

Bitcoin wallets can be stored offline or online at cryptocurrency exchanges, venues where bitcoin can be bought and sold for traditional currencies or other virtual coins.