The bitcoin price has yo-yoed as a result of Musk’s flip-flopping, now down around 50% from its April highs.
“About five years ago, I realized we’d go out of business if I didn’t find an artificial market for this power and I stumbled on crypto,” says Spence.
Until recently, China is thought to have contributed over 50% to bitcoin’s mining capacity, however, authorities in the country have begun ordering bitcoin and cryptocurrency miners to shut down their operations, according to reports.
Estimates for what percentage of renewable or “green” energy is currently powering the bitcoin network are inconsistent.
“Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment,” Musk announced in May, sending shockwaves through bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets.
Stronghold’s Scrubgrass power plant removes around 90% of NOx emissions, 99.9% of particulate emissions, 99.9% of mercury emissions, and can remove 98% of SO2 emissions from the waste coal.
I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself.