The Navajo Nation Is Mining Bitcoin With Sustainable Energy. Here’s How
06 November 2021 - 08:56AM
NEWSBTC
The Navajo Nation’s Bitcoin story might be the most wholesome of
the last few months. The mine isn’t only providing employment
within the reservation, it’s helping them transition from providing
coal-powered energy to renewables. Another case study that proves
Bitcoin incentivizes and funds green energy. Another story of
Bitcoin helping the disenfranchised people of the world to find
their footing. Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade
Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course How disenfranchised are the
Navajo? “The Federal Government took away all the land rights away
from the Navajo people,” says a disembodied voice in the Compass
Mining mini-documentary. According to it, among the Nation: 48% are
unemployed 40% live without running water 32% live off the grid 33%
live below the poverty line “But the Navajo are resilient people
who’ve claimed the desert Southwest as home since time immemorial,”
said director Will Foxley via Twitter. And now, they have Bitcoin
on their side. The First Bitcoin Mine In Navajo Territory The
audiovisual piece comes with this text as a companion, which tells
the story of how the first Bitcoin mine came to be: “In 2017, a
small Canadian firm named West Block approached the Navajo about
building a mine on Navajo land. At 8 megawatts (MW) in size after
the initial round, the Navajo invested in an equity stake in the
mine during the bear market of 2018. Three years later, Bitcoin
mining has turned a corner to become one of the most profitable
sectors of Bitcoin itself.” Apparently, 58% of the mine’s energy
already comes from the depicted solar farm. “The Bitcoin mine is
incentivizing renewables to be built on Navajo country to replace
coal,” says the mini-documentary’s narrator. Foxley claims that
“the Bitcoin mine uses Navajo energy on Navajo land for Navajo
employment.” However, the text states that “The Navajo chose to
divest themselves at a profit.” The move was positive, though,
because it ended up “placing the money back Navajo peoples hands
with investments into the public utilities.” Not only that, the
mine uses renewable energy from the abundant Navajo sun. Nearby
cities used to take Navajo energy (coal) off the reservation. But
the Bitcoin mine uses Navajo energy on Navajo land for Navajo
employment. pic.twitter.com/NZUwigZ4vP — Will Foxley 🧭 (@wsfoxley)
November 4, 2021 The Navajo Nation’s Transition To Clean
Energy In the past, the Navajo have had their runnings with
dirty forms of energy. The text summarizes them this way. “The
Navajo story of the 20th century is fraught with energy abuse,
including malpractice in coal and uranium extraction for people off
the reservation. Today’s generation of Navajo continue to live with
these negative externalities, such as heightened levels of
radiation in well water.” However, as the world is trying to phase
out coal-powered energy, the Navajo innovate to keep up with the
times. According to Walter Hasse, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority
president, “I had excess electricity that I still had to pay for
and deal with. Now, I want to build renewable energy to replace my
lost coal resources that are throughout the nation. I need someone
to consume that renewable energy resource.” Who could consume that
energy,? we wonder. What industry is mobile enough to move to the
desert and start making money for everyone around right away? Well,
the mini-documentary is all about exactly that exact phenomenon.
BTC price chart for 11/06/2021 on CEXIO | Source: BTC/USD on
TradingView.com Jobs For The Navajo People Traditionally, the
Navajo don’t want to leave the reservation. However, there are not
many employment choices there. Until Bitcoin came along, that is.
According to Foxley, the mine now hosts around 3,000 machines.
According to the text, “The facility currently employs two
full-time employees. With the expansion, that number will grow to
eleven. That money then flows from the mine into local jobs
creating even more buzz.” Not only that, the documentary’s narrator
promises “more mines scheduled to come online in the coming
months.” Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining Vs. The World: BTC Leads
Sustainable Energy Considering a mining company commissioned both
the audiovisual piece and the text, we could assume who’s behind
those “more mines scheduled.” And we salute them. Featured Image:
Screenshot from the mini-documentary | Charts by TradingView
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