Bitcoin mining infrastructure firm, Blockstream, has recently partnered with Macquarie Group to explore carbon-neutral alternatives through a pilot investment in Bitcoin facilities. According to the press release, the crypto firm aims to use Macquaries knowledge on financial, energy and green infrastructure to overlook carbon-neutral initiatives.
Blockstream aims to establish a number of mining facilities at an enterprise-grade by deploying crypto mining hardware hosting.
Blockstream announced, “Macquarie will invest in the facility while utilizing its deep expertise in energy to explore opportunities to provide renewable energy to power the mining process. As one of the largest Bitcoin miners in North America, with a vision to scale this initiative to new sites as green power infrastructure is developed, Blockstream is excited about the potential this collaboration with Macquarie offers.”
Dr Adam Black, Blockstream’s CEO, talked about the potential that such a partnership could bring to the industry saying: “Macquarie’s experience and scale in traditional infrastructure investment, as well as commodity and energy markets, and Blockstream’s position as a leading Bitcoin miner and provider of Bitcoin-based technology solutions offers terrific potential.”
Before this partnership took place, the Bitcoin mining infrastructure firm had arranged similar deals with Aker and Square. The idea behind these deals was to build renewable-powered mining facilities.
At the end of August 2021, Blockstream announced that it raised $210 million as part of series B funding with a valuation of $3.2 billion. The series B funding came alongside the acquisition of Spondoolies intellectual property and the core team joining with Blockstream to build the firm’s ASIC arm. Spondoolies is a Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer. Since 2013, the company has successfully built five different mining products and was one of the first teams to deliver energy-efficient hardware.
“Blockstream is bringing on-board the Spondoolies core team and acquiring related IP to launch the world’s first enterprise-class miner next year,” explained Dr Adam Black.
Investors in Blockstream’s series B funding include Baillie Gifford, a Scotland based investment firm, and iFinex, the parent company of Tether and cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
Earlier this year, Blockstream acquired Bitcoin mining equipment from the Shenzhen-based provider, MicroBT. The total value of the mining equipment purchased stands at around $25 million so far. If Blockstream is successful in its endeavour, this could be the start of the future of crypto mining.
As the world falls into a climate crisis, the call for energy-efficient mining has never been stronger. Blockstream has created strong partnerships with industry experts and has raised significant funds to finance the project, which could indicate success.
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