The president of El Salvador announced Wednesday that the country's state-run geothermal energy utility would begin using power derived from volcanoes for Bitcoin mining.
The announcement on social media came just hours after the Central American nation's congress voted to make the cryptocurrency an acceptable legal tender. "I've just instructed the president of @LaGeoSV (our state-owned geothermal electric company), to put up a plan to offer facilities for #Bitcoin mining with very cheap, 100% clean, 100% renewable, 0 emissions energy from our volcanos," President Nayib Bukele tweeted. "This is going to evolve fast!" Bitcoin mining has taken a lot of heat for being harmful to the environment, since it requires massive amounts of electricity to power the computers that generate the invisible currency. But boosters of the cryptocurrency, such as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, say Bitcoin mining could lead to more renewable energy projects, such as the one being announced in El Salvador.