Texas Bitcoin Expansion Company To Argentina, Utilizing Waste Of Gas For Mining

Bitcoin mining site Giga Energy in Argentina. (photo: x @gigaenergy)

JAKARTA - Texas-based Bitcoin Miner Giga Energy has expanded its operations to Argentina as part of efforts to leverage wasted energy from the "natural gas burning" in the South American country's oil field.

Brent Whitehead, co-founder of Giga, described the expansion as an "important milestone" for his company in a post on March 26 on LinkedIn.

"This transfer is not only expanding our operational landscape but also in line with our vision to reduce natural gas burning globally," Whitehead said.

Gas burning is the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction. Metana was released as part of the process, which was later converted by Giga into electricity to power the Bitcoin mining rig.

This expansion will make Giga place a large shipping container with thousands of Bitcoin miners on top of the oil well, divert excess gas into the generator, and then leverage that energy to power the Bitcoin mining rig.

The Bitcoin Giga mining site in Argentina based in the province of Mendoza has been in the testing phase since December. We have mined Bitcoin worth between 200,000 and 250,000 US dollars," said Matt Lohstrah, co-founder of the company, quoted by VOI from CNBC.

However, the company is still waiting to import all the equipment needed before it can fully improve its operations. Until then, the company did not expect to make a profit.

Argentina has the second largest shale gas reserves in the world, according to a newly published academic paper from the University of Michigan.

The company's Bitcoin mining operation will also reduce methane emissions, said Whitehead. "By capturing stranded natural gas to drive modular data centers for energy-intensity computing, Giga actively contributes to reducing global methane emissions."

The IT services company Exa Tech will help Giga handle operations on site, while oil and gas company Phoenix Global Resources will provide the necessary gas to mobilize Bitcoin miners.

Giga first launched its Bitcoin mining operation in 2019 and has 150 megawatt containers installed at its facilities in Texas and Shanghai.

The move comes as Bitcoin mining companies prepare for the upcoming half-Bitcoin reduction event which is currently scheduled to take place around April 20.

The half reduction event will make the Bitcoin reward paid to miners cut from 6.25 BTC (USD 439,000) to USD 3.125 BTC (USD 219.500).

It should be noted that the event could cause global hashrates to switch from the United States to countries with cheaper electricity rates, according to Hashlabs Mining's main founder and strategic mining, Jaran Mellerud.

Mellerud said that Argentina and Paraguay are the most promising countries for Bitcoin mining in South America.