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Mr. Wonderful-Backed Green Bitcoin Mining Venture To Build $500M HQ In N. Dakota

Who’s putting his money where his mouth is? Mr. Wonderful AKA Kevin O’Leary is. As one of the main proponents of the industry’s need for green bitcoin mining, Mr. Wonderful invested in Bitzero. And now they’re announcing that the company will build its North American headquarters in North Dakota. Why is this news? Because of the things they’ll do with the heat that the data center will produce.

Heat is an unintended byproduct of bitcoin mining, and Bitzero Blockchain Inc. plans to use it to fuel the region’s food production throughout the year. The company will partner with MHA Nation’s greenhouse project to accomplish it. And they’ll use North Dakota’s abundant green energy resources to mine the bitcoin without even touching carbon. Mr. Wonderful is presenting us with a win-win situation right here. 

In a governmental press release, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation Chairman Mark Fox said, “Bitzero is working with us to use our Western Area Power Administration hydroelectric power to reflect the company’s zero carbon mandate. The additional heat produced from the data center facility will be used for our MHA Nation’s Greenhouse Project currently under construction.”

Excited to announce that North Dakota emerged as the logical choice for @bitzerodotcom's headquarters due to alignment on the state’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, a robust energy industry, favorable tax and regulatory environment and access to top-tier talent. 1/ pic.twitter.com/GylnM1aNaO

— Gov. Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) June 1, 2022

Out of the $500M for the North American HQ, the company already raised $100M. At one point over the next two months, Bitzero will host an IPO in Canada to get the rest. The green bitcoin mining company is originally from Namsskogan, Norway, where their data centers already work with hydroelectric power. That means, their operations run on 100% renewable energy. Using the heat for food production is a benefit on top of that. 

What Does Mr. Wonderful Have To Say About The Situation?

The plan was to announce the North American headquarters before the IPO, and Bitzero delivered. In what seems like a private event with entrepreneurs, politicians, and media, the North Dakota part of the venture came to life. Local radio station KVRR provides video and quotes Mr. Wonderful saying:

“Data is the new oil. This state has plenty of energy. Now, it has an opportunity to convert some of it and diversify into what every single sovereign wants. The value of having your data on your own soil. In a stable place because it’s the records of people, it’s the banking system. It’s all of the information that every single sector of the economy needs.”

For his part, Governor Doug Burgum said in a tweet, “excited to announce that North Dakota emerged as the logical choice for Bitzero’s headquarters due to alignment on the state’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, a robust energy industry, favorable tax and regulatory environment and access to top-tier talent.”

BTC price chart for 06/03/2022 on Cexio | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Other Projects in North Dakota

In the middle of April, just a couple of months ago, the government of North Dakota announced a visit by Mr. Wonderful and Bitzero CEO Akbar Shamji. The purpose of the visit was “to evaluate potential Bitcoin mining investment opportunities” in the state. Apparently, things went well. 

There's so much opportunity in Bitcoin mining using 100% sustainable green energy like wind, solar, nuclear and hydro.

— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) May 10, 2022

At the time, they announced two more things. First, “the bitcoin mining company has plans to build out 200 megawatts (MW) of power in data centers over the next two years.” So, this is just starting. Second, “in addition to the data centers, the company also plans to develop an assembly and distribution hub for graphene batteries technology.” So, there’s more coming. 

“There’s so much opportunity in Bitcoin mining using 100% sustainable green energy like wind, solar, nuclear and hydro,” Mr. Wonderful said recently in a tweet. Plus, in a Cointelegraph interview, Mr. Wonderful said, “Private capital must be compliant with environmental, social and governance factors. ESG was once a marketing term, but now it’s a real thing.” 

Even though not everyone in the bitcoin space agrees with him, it’s commendable that Mr. Wonderful is not just talking. He’s betting on a green future for bitcoin, and apparently, he’s betting big.

Featured Image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

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Green Mining Company HIVE Secures Deal To Buy A Number Of Intel’s New ASICs

The ESG-focused mining company HIVE is the latest organization to sign a deal with Intel. It joins Block, Argo Blockchain, and GRIID, as the first clients and testers of the giant’s new ASICs. Intel’s Bonanza Mine project is quickly becoming one of bitcoin’s stories of the year. It’s funny that, so far, no one has seen the equipment. The idea of a bitcoin miner made in the US is appealing, though. Plus, the project’s rollout has been masterful so far. 

The headline here is that “HIVE owns state-of-the-art, green energy-powered data centre facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland, where we source only green energy to mine.” In a recent press release, the company announced the Intel deal and its intention to expand into the US. “The Company is planning for a 100 MW deployment at one of Compute North’s renewable energy campuses in Texas.” 

HIVE self-proclaimed itself “the first cryptocurrency mining company with a green energy and ESG strategy”. The company’s other significant characteristic is that they’re holders. “Since the beginning of 2021, HIVE has held in secure storage the majority of its ETH and BTC coin mining rewards.” That goes in line with new data that shows that miners are quietly accumulating bitcoin as the market bleeds.

BTC price chart for 03/08/2022 on Capital.com | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What Do We Know About HIVE ‘s Deal With Intel?

Not much, really. “HIVE has entered into a Supply Agreement with Intel which is one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, for their upcoming blockchain accelerator.” Notice how HIVE calls the ASICs “blockchain accelerators,” just as Intel did in the company’s blog. Will the name catch on?

The press release doesn’t specify how many bitcoin miners will HIVE buy, but, it provides some relevant data: 

“These miners are expected to be delivered over a period of one year starting in the second half of calendar 2022, the effect of which, if they are all installed, would be an expected increase of up to 95% in our aggregate Bitcoin mining hashrate from 1.9 Exahash per second.”

It also quotes HIVE ‘s president, Aydin Kilic, who about the deal said:

“After months of careful planning, we are very excited to take this step forward with a global technology leader like Intel. HIVE is committed to implementing these next-generation blockchain accelerators in its green energy infrastructure.”

The ESG aspect of the whole endeavor is another important point here.

Bitcoin Keeps Going Greener And Greener

Recently, GRIID’s filling with the SEC revealed several characteristics of Intel’s new bitcoin miners. As always, NewsBTC got you the 411:

“When the world first heard about Intel’s ASIC ambitions, the company cleverly described the machines as “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient.” How efficient will they actually be? Tom’s hardware answers:

“According to the listing, BMZ2’s performance weighs in at 135 TH/s with 26 J/THs of efficiency. Additionally, the miner is roughly half the cost of a competing Bitmain S19 Pro while being 15% more efficient, rivaling the best hardware on the market from competing companies.”

Would 15% really make that much of a difference? If it can rival the S19 Pro, it would. And Intel wouldn’t make this much noise if they didn’t have a winner in their hands, would they? Maybe HIVE ‘s president, Aydin Kilic, can shed some light on that:

“Intel’s energy-efficient and high performance blockchain accelerator is expected to reduce our power consumption over current ASIC miners on the market. HIVE will participate in the system development process from design verification, through to the prototype stages, and then factory & test engineering regimens to arrive at a production model; we are well-positioned and excited to undertake the process ahead.”

That’s right, the first few clients will help with the testing and development of Intel’s final product. That makes all the sense in the world. Let’s wish them luck, because an ASIC miner made in the US would certainly help break Bitmain’s quasi-monopoly. The bitcoin ecosystem needs more decentralization in that aspect. 

Featured Image: HIVE’s logo, screenshot from this video | Charts by TradingView

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Since China’s Mining Ban, Bitcoin Hashrate Has Recovered by 68% And Counting

Bitcoin is a perpetual motion machine. The Bitcoin hashrate is slowly climbing to pre-China-ban levels, and the service continued uninterrupted without a hiccup. Such is the power of well-placed incentives. Pantera Capital’s CEO Dan Morehead adds one more factor to the equation. “The bitcoin network has recovered 68% of the drop in hashrate that our difficulty model attributed to China’s ban—likely in places with cleaner energy.”

The recovery is happening exactly as forecast.

The #bitcoin network has recovered 68% of the drop in hashrate that our difficulty model attributed to China's ban—likely in places with cleaner energy.

The transition to renewables is underway.

Sep Letter: https://t.co/xLyaLpPQQN pic.twitter.com/UsK9ML3BU8

— Dan Morehead (@dan_pantera) September 9, 2021

In the company’s newsletter, Pantera fleshes out the argument:

“Although difficult to know with certainty, it seems very likely that much of the reboot in mining power is occurring in places with cleaner energy than those utilized by Chinese miners. 

The transition to renewables is well underway.”

Regarding The Bitcoin Hashrate, Are ESG Concerns Even Important?

Here at NewsBTC we’ve determined that China’s Bitcoin mining tended to go to provinces with abundant green energy. Bitcoin incentivizes that. The Bitcoin hashrate tends to go where the energy is cheap. We’ve also determined that the environment doesn’t seem to be the reason for the Bitcoin mining ban.

“The fact that the electricity for crypto mining in Sichuan came from clean hydropower meant that many thought the province would be a safe haven for Bitcoin miners. As pressure on local governments to cut carbon emissions mounts, projects were successfully shuttered in some other provincial-level regions — such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia — where the mining was chiefly fueled by coal.” 

The only thing we can know for sure about the Chinese government’s plan is this: the environment is not on their radar. They’re closing these mining operations for other reasons altogether. 

It’s also important to remember that China’s Bitcoin hashrate dominance was already on decline before the mining ban. 

“According to Arcane Research, CBECI numbers say that:

China’s share of total Bitcoin mining power has declined from 75.5% in September 2019 to 46% in April 2021 — before the restrictions on Chinese miners were even imposed. That figure is much lower than the older estimate of 65%.

That’s a sharp decline. Why did China’s miners lose so much ground before the ban?”

None of this invalidates Pantera Capital’s original thesis, though. “The transition to renewables is well underway,” that certainly seems to be the case. And the Bitcoin hashrate keeps climbing. 

BTC price chart for 09/09/2021 on Timex | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Do Bitcoin Halvins Imply Cuts In Energy Consumption?

Another interesting idea present in the mentioned newsletter is this one:

“Bitcoin has a built-in mechanism to reduce energy consumption over time.  The number of bitcoin issued in the every-ten-minutes block reward is cut in half every four years.  Ceteris paribus, the amount of electricity Bitcoin consumes will be cut by 50% every four years.  For comparison, the Paris Accord only requires 7% cuts every four years.”

Of course, Bitcoin’s price fluctuates when related to fiat currencies. So, the value of every Bitcoin stays the same, but the price might – and usually does – increase more than twofold. Even though the miner’s rewards are cut in half, their earnings might increase. That extra money could bring even more competition and a Bitcoin hashrate increase with it. 

Taking that into account, Pantera poses:

“Perhaps a more realistic scenario is if the price of bitcoin were to double every four years in parallel with the halvings – putting bitcoin at $320,000 /BTC in 2032 – electricity consumption would be no greater than it is today.”

Enough About The Bitcoin Hashrate, What About The Price?

Another point that the newsletter makes is this one.“This is China’s third ban of Bitcoin.  The reverse hex is still working – the price is up 57%.”

Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course

Is this a bullish signal? Bitcoin’s price has “only” increased by 57% since the Chinese mining ban sent the Bitcoin hashrate in death spiral for a few seconds. Bitcoin paid the price and resisted sabotage like a hero. We’re not sure if a “reverse hex” could be considered reliable information, but… maybe this IS a bullish signal?

Featured Image by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash – Charts by TradingView and Pantera Capital