Cryptocurrency is becoming more integrated into our everyday lives. Soon you will be able to pay to see a movie with cryptocurrency as large companies like AMC move to accept it as payment. Meanwhile, the largest crypto exchange in the United States is now a publicly traded company, pro-athletes are being paid in bitcoin, and crypto investing has become a regular conversation at dinner tables.
As crypto grows in popularity, gains mainstream acceptance, and becomes more widely accepted for everyday transactions, though, it’s becoming increasingly important for the industry to align with the momentum building behind Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments on Wall Street and at large corporations.
Consumers and shareholders are getting more serious about issues like climate change and sustainability, and companies are taking real actions to address these concerns. For example, Microsoft committed to become carbon negative as a company by 2030, and Home Depot announced a goal to reach 100 percent renewable electricity for its facilities by the same year.
To address carbon emission from energy use and align with sustainability movements, crypto is turning to a 100% carbon-free power source: nuclear energy. Nuclear provides the environmentally-friendly energy needed to mine cryptocurrency, and in contrast to other low- and no-carbon energy sources, it is reliable and constantly able to power mining operations and transactions 24/7/365. That means nuclear can help miners scale their operations more quickly than renewable sources like wind and solar.
Oklo, a company building advanced reactors powered by waste from traditional reactors, has announced a 20-year agreement with Compass Mining to provide 100% carbon-free electricity for mining. Whit Gibbs, co-founder and CEO of Compass said, “every bitcoin miner understands the need for cheap, reliable power.” He also said that the partnership with Oklo will “redefine the energy landscape for cryptocurrency mining.”
Energy Harbor announced an agreement with Standard Power to supply carbon-free, nuclear-generated electricity to its bitcoin blockchain mining center in Coshocton, Ohio beginning in December of this year. Maxim Serezhin, Standard Power’s Chief Executive Officer emphasized that “by partnering with Energy Harbor, we have proactively structured our hosting capabilities to ensure that 100% of the power associated with this facility is carbon-free.”
Additionally, earlier this year, Talen Energy announced plans to develop a nuclear-powered crypto mining and data facility adjacent to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant. Now, Talen has announced a bitcoin mining joint venture with TeraWulf Inc. to develop up to 300 Megawatts of zero-carbon bitcoin mining capacity on the campus. Alex Hernandez, Talen President, said that their “mining facilities will create zero-carbon coins with the appropriate regulatory overlay, mined in the United States in a secure location. As the world's adoption of digital assets and the demand for clean power accelerates, we believe these zero-carbon coins with verifiable attributes and U.S. provenance will be highly differentiated for those seeking to invest in digital coin production.”
As commitments to address climate change and our carbon footprint continue to grow, cryptocurrency can be mined and operated with carbon-free electricity thanks to nuclear energy. Elon Musk, a critic of fossil fuel use in the mining of cryptocurrency, agrees. While speaking at the B-Word conference, Musk said he is “pro-nuclear” and suggested utilizing nuclear to make cryptocurrencies more sustainable.
The momentum is already growing to produce zero-carbon coins with nuclear, and we’ve just seen the beginning.
