cryptocurrency is quite literally blowing up in latin america right now why because of a
visionary new scheme in el salvador to mine bitcoin using energy drawn from an active
volcano could this bold initiative solve the nation's chronic poverty and silence crypto's
pesky environmentalist critics join us today as we scale the caldera and look into how el
salvador is mining bitcoin with volcanoes earlier this month el salvadorian president nayi bukele
tweeted a short video clip unveiling his country's glossy new geothermal electricity plant
the brief clip also showed engineers receiving a delivery of shipping containers full of bitcoin
mining rigs and technicians busily installing application-specific integrated circuits or asics
we're still testing and installing red the presidential tweet but this is officially the
first bitcoin mining from the volcano so what's actually going on back in june the el salvadorian
parliament passed a law declaring bitcoin legal tender in the small central american nation the
country's other official currency is presently the u.s dollar the plan hopes to help el salvador
ride an international waiver fascination with cryptocurrencies and ultimately drive much-needed
investment into a nation where 70 percent of the population lack basic access to traditional
financial services that means banks as well as adopting bitcoin as formal legal tender bhukela's
government also sets out plans to provide the necessary training and mechanisms for salvadorans
to access and engage with transactions involving bitcoin and in case anybody was wondering what
tiny el salvador has to offer the world as a futuristic crypto hub president bukele offered
this tantalizing hint to accompany his june announcement i've just instructed the president of
the our state-owned geothermal electric company to put up a plan to offer facilities for bitcoin
mining with very cheap 100 clean 100 renewable zero emissions energy from our volcanoes this is
going to evolve fast he had it as if to underline his commitment to the crypto cause pukeley also
changed his twitter avatar to a doctored photo of himself with laser blue eyes a popular meme among
bitcoin fanatics so what's at stake here crypto currencies currently have a dreadful reputation
among environmentally conscious consumers who argue the carbon footprint of crypto mining
is unacceptably high bitcoin's energy consumption is related to its hash rate or the speed at which
mining computers can solve mathematical problems to unlock the next charge of coins bitcoin mining
is said to burn through some 129 terawatt hours of juice a year google's entire net energy usage
by contrast is a mere 12.4 terawatt hours over the past two years alone bitcoin mining has added 40
million tons of co2 to the atmosphere or the equivalent of an additional 8.9 million cars
suddenly driving on the road bitcoin is already a bigger emitter than american airlines and is fast
catching up with the entire us government's carbon footprint el salvador's argument is that volcanic
energy is essentially free it doesn't require the burning of dirty fossil fuels and thanks
to el salvador's geographic location perched on the rim of the so-called pacific ring of fire
there's no shortage of volcanoes in fact there's at least 20 active volcanoes within its borders
and they already supply about a fifth of the country's traditional energy requirements
to be clear the volcano itself won't directly power the mining operation instead heat from its
scalding molten core will be harnessed to boil water which will in turn generate steam that
drives turbines el salvador's progressive approach to bitcoin has already run into teething problems
on september 6th just one day before it legally adopted the world's most popular cryptocurrency
el salvador's central bank splashed out on 400 bitcoin worth about 21 million dollars
the following day after the policy was formally rolled out the price of bitcoin plummeted to its
lowest level in nearly a month from around 52 000 to a little under 43 000 still according to the
country's shiny new bitcoin laws businesses have to accept bitcoin when and where the technology
is available citizens aren't compelled to use bitcoin if they don't fancy it but they are
incentivized to do so by the government there's already a state-backed wallet called chivo and any
citizen who downloads chivo onto their smartphone is instantly rewarded with thirty dollars value in
bitcoin salvadorans have proudly shared images on twitter of these crypto windfalls since using the
wallet and president buchelle has already declared the scheme a success 2.1 million salvadorans are
actively using chivo wallet not downloads he tweeted chivo is not a bank but in less than
three weeks it now has more users than any bank in el salvador and is moving fast to have more users
than all banks in el salvador combined this is wild however the world bank and the imf have both
expressed skepticism of the rollout arguing that environmental concerns surrounding bitcoin remain
valid for the time being and that cryptocurrencies are still too volatile for nation states to bet
their solvency on them doubtful salvadorans took to social media to suggest that high levels of
illiteracy in their nation make its population ripe for online scammers and that the country just
isn't ready to make such a complicated leap into the financial unknown moreover internet access
is spotty with only a small minority enjoying access to up-to-date devices and fast connections
still it's not all doom and gloom tech firm athena bitcoin has publicly committed to investing
one million dollars installing as many as one and a half thousand cryptocurrency atms across
el salvador these atms would enable citizens to exchange bitcoin for us dollars and vice versa
president bukele's manner of rolling out these controversial proposals has been criticized
as dictatorial which inspired him in a trumpian flourish to change his twitter bio to el dictador
mascul del mundo mundial earth globe americas in english that's the coolest dictator in the world
earth globe americas the notion of using volcanoes to mine bitcoin isn't even all that far-fetched
iceland already has a proven track record for harnessing geothermal power for its extensive
crypto mining activities the proof of el salvador's volcanic success will all come
down to the efficiency of its miners and whether or not they can offer investors a competitive ash
rate what do you think will el salvador's scheme pave the way for a cleaner greener crypto future
let us know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe for more lava minute tech content