The co-founder of Giga claims that their new site has mined Bitcoin worth $200,000 to $250,000 using energy that would otherwise be wasted due to natural gas flaring.
As part of an initiative to harness excess energy from “natural gas flaring” in Argentina’s oil fields, Giga Energy, a Bitcoin miner located in Texas, has extended its operations into the South American country.
In a LinkedIn post from March 26, Giga co-founder Brent Whitehead praised the growth as a major achievement for his company.
“Broadening our operating landscape and aligning with our aim to minimize flare internationally are both brought about by this decision.”
One byproduct of the oil extraction process is the combustion of natural gas, a process known as gas flaring. As a byproduct, the process releases methane, which Giga transforms into energy to run its Bitcoin mining machines.
According to a March 26th CNBC story, as part of the expansion, Giga would stack thousands of Bitcoin miners inside a shipping container atop an oil well, feed the surplus gas into generators, and use the energy to power Bitcoin mining rigs.
According to Matt Lohstroh, another co-founder of the business, who spoke with CNBC, Giga’s mining facility in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, has been mining Bitcoin valued between $200,000 and $250,000 since December, during its test phase.
But before it can expand to its full potential, the company has to import all the equipment it needs. The company does not anticipate making a profit until that point.
A newly released research article from the University of Michigan states that Argentina has the world’s second-largest shale gas container.
Whitehead told CNBC that the company’s Bitcoin mining activity would also decrease emissions of methane.
“Giga is actively helping to decrease global methane emissions by harnessing stranded natural gas to power modular data centers for energy-intensive computation.”
Exa Tech, an IT services business, will assist Giga with on-site operations, while Phoenix Global Resources, an oil and gas corporation, will provide the gas required to power the Bitcoin miners.
According to CNBC, Giga began mining Bitcoin in 2019 and now has 150 megawatts of containers at its Texas and Shanghai plants.
This change is being implemented as Bitcoin mining companies get ready for the halving event that is expected to take place around April 20.
Bitcoin miners will get $3.125 BTC ($219,500) instead of 6.25 BTC ($439,000) due to the halving event. Founder and chief mining strategist of Hashlabs Mining Jaran Mellerud has speculated that the incident may cause a worldwide hashrate migration away from the US and toward nations with lower power bills.
According to Mellerud, Paraguay and Argentina are two of the most promising South American nations for Bitcoin mining.
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