ExxonMobil – one of the biggest gas and diesel providers in the United States – is taking a page out of the ConocoPhillips book and is looking to mine bitcoin in North Dakota.
ExxonMobil Seeks to Use Natural Gas to Mine BTC
This is a testament to how big crypto mining has become in America. Not long ago, ConocoPhillips – a major provider of gas and oil – announced that it would be selling excess energy to mine the world’s number one digital currency by market cap. Now, it looks like ExxonMobil has caught the mining bug and is looking to get in on the crypto action.
ExxonMobil has signed a deal with Crusoe Energy Systems in Denver, Colorado to gain access to technology that helps oil companies turn excess energy, aka flare gas, into useful resources. Right now, it appears many of the details surrounding the deal and the company’s partnership with the gas provider are confidential and unavailable to the public.
However, what can be said is that ExxonMobil is going to be using a process similar to what is being used by ConocoPhillips. Natural gas that would otherwise be burned off in generators is going to be converted into electricity that will power shipping containers filled with digital currency mining machines. Exxon allegedly launched a pilot program centering around the mining venture in early January of last year. The company then built out its mining operation for the next six months.
Cully Cavness – president of Crusoe Energy – was very enthusiastic about the project, claiming in an interview that this would ultimately solve two problems at once. It would convert renewable energy into something that could be used for additional projects while also bringing the crypto mining sector to new heights and making it more mainstream and legitimate.
Cavness said:
This is just a great way to bring that demand to the wasted energy and solve two problems at once. Solve the energy appetite of bitcoin and solve the stranded energy, flare gas problem for the energy industry.
Why Does Crypto Mining Continue to Stir Arguments?
Crypto mining has become one of the most controversial topics of the digital currency space. For one thing, it is the only way to ensure that new units of crypto are placed in circulation. The process works by solving complex mathematical problems with mining rigs. Once these equations are solved, new blocks are formed, and miners are ultimately rewarded with digital currency once these blocks are placed in circulation.
While the process has brought about jobs and added to the world’s economy, it has also raised eyebrows amongst environmentalists, who claim that crypto mining is potentially harming the planet and leading the Earth’s atmosphere down a dark path. Several reports have been issued in recent years claiming, for example, that bitcoin mining uses more energy than several developing countries.
