The Hydroelectric Crypto Mining Project In Kenya, Also Gives Power To Rurals

The hydroelectric Bitcoin mine in Kenya also provides electricity for rural residents. (photo: twitter @jack)

JAKARTA - The African-based water-powered crypto mining project released an update on their efforts to bring energy development to rural communities through Bitcoin.

On December 9, Gridless Compute tweeted photos and comments about how their water-powered BTC mining rigs powered the entire rural settlement while also reducing energy levels to 2,000 people, equivalent to 500 families.

Powering a rural Kenya village and securing the #Bitcoin network with excess hydropower, all while lowering rates to 2000 people (500 families, ~$10/month to $4). 🇰🇪 @GridlessCompute pic.twitter.com/9GUlAU6265

— jack (@jack) December 9, 2022

According to the tweet, costs fell from $10 per month to $4. All of this while securing the network of blockchains underlying BTC.

Earlier this week, the project also shared the proceeds from a successful $2 million funding round led by VC Stillmark and Blocks, the parent company of CashApp and Square.

According to Gridless, the funds from this investment will be used to expand BTC mines across the African market while targeting rural communities to get easily accessible energy.

Next week an additional 10x hash comes online - allowing power providers to make the upfront investment in hydro for remote regions, by monetizing the stranded energy that previously made these deployments uneconomical.A game-changing model for #Bitcoin and the world. pic.twitter.com/B5a5iuxKlE

— Miles Suter 🏴 (@milessuter) December 9, 2022

Erik Hersman, CEO of Gridless, said that although BTC mining has spread widely across North America, Europe and Asia, Africa has a great opportunity to diversify mining. He highlighted that renewable energy is abundant on the continent.

"This brings excellent potential benefits to energy generation and miners as well as the ability to have a real positive impact on the society where it is used," said Gridless, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

Miles Suter, an active person in the BTC community and leader at CashApp, visited one of the sites in rural Kenya. Suter highlighted the renewable energy aspect of the project, as BTC's previous mining was under intense scrutiny due to its harsh environmental impacts.

This comes as BTC's hash rate has declined over the past month, allowing miners to regain losses following its lowest mining earnings report in two years.

Crypto activity on the African continent has gained momentum over the past year as cases of practical use for crypto and its technology continue to emerge.

So many cases that the International Monetary Fund recently called for stricter crypto regulation in Africa.

In addition, the new partnership has allowed cross-border payments between citizens in the United States, sending funds to Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya via the BTC Lightning Network.