Kenya has entered into an agreement with Bitcoin mining company, Marathon Digital Holdings, to capitalize on the nation’s under-utilized energy resources.
Marathon’s CEO, Fred Thiel, announced on X that this partnership represents a major advancement in utilizing Kenya’s excess energy for Bitcoin mining and technological progress.
“Kenya has a special spot in the history of digital currencies as it is the home of M-PESA, which in 2007 was one of the first ways for people in Kenya and now across Africa to transmit value digitally by using mobile phone credits,” stated Thiel.
“Today tens of millions of people across Africa use M-PESA for branchless money transfers. Marathon is proud to play a part in the next phase.”
President William Ruto had earlier confirmed that Marathon is consulting with Kenya’s National Treasury and Ministry of Energy on the mining operations and crypto regulation. This collaboration seeks to leverage Kenya’s abundant, underutilized energy and monetize it through mining.
“Marathon Digital has been ushered to consult with the National Treasury in Kenya on our cryptocurrency mining regime, and to the Ministry of Energy to discuss its energy needs in connection with cryptocurrency mining here in Kenya,” the President said at the time.
🇰🇪REGULATION | The Kenya Government Working with Marathon Digital on Cryptocurrency Regime and Bitcoin Mining
Marathon Digital operates 225,589 mining rigs across 11 sites globally, with an installed and energized hash rate of 27.8 exahashes per second.
The Company has mined… pic.twitter.com/9Z7RitPXgQ
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 4, 2024
Kenya is popular for being a producer of renewable energy, including hydro, geothermal, and wind sources, with potential exceding over 10,000 MW, according to government sources. Marathon Digital is looking to turn the generated surplus into a valuable resource, generating additional revenue and promoting energy efficiency.
Already, Gridless Compute is trailblazing bitcoin mining operations using under-utilized hydroelectric energy in rural parts of Africa and Kenya.
BITCOIN | How Gridless Manages #Bitcoin Mining in Africa via its Own Software
Thanks to the OS, Gridless is able to optimize the performance of the mining machines based on the available power so as to get the maximum hashrate for the given availability of energy and the… pic.twitter.com/pzWQBS3XRk
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) February 15, 2024
Marathon Digital’s deal involves not only the use of untapped energy for mining, but also the joint development of technology projects that could benefit the country’s infrastructure and technological landscape.
