The recent reports suggest that El Salvador has mined approximately 474 Bitcoins in the last 3 years.
The mining streak journey that started in 2021 has made it the state government’s highest achievement in crypto mining.
The total bitcoin portfolio of the government has reached around 354 million US dollars in relation to the latest value of the crypto.
El Salvador’s Giant BTC Holdings
El Salvador has a Bitcoin Office which has the status of an official government entity. As of the latest government data that were released it states that the Bitcoin office and other office coffers now have Bitcoin holdings of nearly 5,750 bitcoins.
The nation was able to mine this amount of bitcoins. A site has a volcano-fueled geothermal power plant which has the potential to power high rates of crypto minings.
Even before 2021, El Salvador has conducted Bitcoin minings which were already reported at that time.
The latest addition of Bitcoin holdings, from the mining from the last three years was able to add 473.5 Bitcoins.
It was powered by a tiny amount of geothermal energy which was generated by the Tecapa volcano in the country.
El Salvador is receiving attention and appreciation from other global nations as it has adopted a green way to collect Bitcoin, often referred to as the original cryptocurrency, and simultaneously all these processes take place without the overseeing or regulations of central banks or any other bodies.
The new bitcoin holdings that the nation has mined since 2021 are worth around 29 million US dollars.
The country was able to use its geothermal energy in an innovative way and their actions of chasing green energy to mine Bitcoin can be taken as a model by the nations.
A total of 102 megawatts of electricity are generated from the geothermal power plants of the country. Out of this 1.5 megawatts are used for Bitcoin mining.
It was in 2021 that El Salvador accepted bitcoin as its legal tender and it was the first nation to do so.
The nation has adopted US dollars as another legal tender which happened many years ago.
Nayib Bukele, the then president of the nation has received widespread criticism from all over even from international organizations such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
It was noted that the huge acceptance of Bitcoin may have negative impacts on the nation’s internal economy as Bitcoin is a highly volatile cryptocurrency.
However, Bukele did really win in this action and the efforts did not go in vain. He was reelected for a second term and still serves as the president of the nation.
The activities of the government of El Salvador are highly notable; miners from all other places in the nation have been facing challenges regarding the higher electricity consumption for mining the crypto.
Also, with the Bitcoin halving, miners are expected to upgrade their devices and equipment.
Bitcoin Mining In Brief
Bitcoin mining is the tiresome process by which you can mine Bitcoin and earn a part. In this process, the transactions are officially entered into the blockchain.
This is how new bitcoins get launched, not the blockchain and this is how you can introduce new bitcoins into its circulating supply.
There are specific hardware and software needed for Bitcoin mining. A very complex algorithm would be set by the network of Bitcoin and the miners try to solve this problem.
The one who solves it first is seen as the winner of the process and gets to earn a Bitcoin reward. As a miner, you will need to possess an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or graphics processing unit (GPU).
Criticism
Despite the wide appreciation that the nation and its enthusiasm for cryptocurrency have garnered, there have been criticisms as well.
Many crypto analysts are connected to this high level of Bitcoin mining which opens up more chances for money laundering.
At the same time, it may also cause financial instability in the nation’s internal economy.
Ending Thoughts
El Salvador has made one of the great achievements by mining a significant amount of Bitcoin by rightly using their geothermal power plants powered by their land rich in volcanoes.
However, the nation also faces criticism regarding the financial instability and money laundering that it may have to overcome.
