Jack Dorsey Backs East African Bitcoin Mining Company Powered by Renewable Energy

Gridless, a bitcoin mining company backed by Jack Dorsey, has raised over $2 million in funding and plans to help generate new sources of energy for communities in rural East Africa.

Source: CoinDesk/YouTube

The major $2 million in investments will help the company expand bitcoin mines across African markets. Gridless previously started five projects in rural Kenya with the African hydroelectric energy company HydroBox. They now plan to expand to other regions of East Africa.

Gridless designs, builds, and operates these mining sights all on renewable energy producers in rural Africa where excess energy is unused, Coin Desk reported.

Gridless brings “a socially and environmentally conscious approach to bitcoin mining, one that provides tangible benefits by way of access to electricity for communities in rural parts of East Africa,” Alyse Killeen, managing partner at Stillmark, said in an announcement.

A recent study found that the environmental cost of producing bitcoin is among some of the least environmentally friendly industries like animal agriculture and fossil fuels.

Bitcoin’s enormous energy usage is mostly due to the “mining” process, which involves the use of specialized computers to solve increasingly more complex, and thus, energy-draining, algorithms. The energy-intensive computer process emits a large amount of carbon dioxide.

Researchers estimate that the global climate damages of bitcoin between 2016 and 2021 are estimated to be $12 billion, and carbon emissions have increased 126-fold over that amount of time. Studies have estimated that bitcoin mining used more energy than in countries like Austria or Portugal.

Read more about the environmental impacts of bitcoin in One Green Planet. Raise your voice against Climate change and buy one of these empowering climate change tees.

Related Content:

• Bitcoin’s Environmental Damage Equal to That of Beef, Natural Gas, and Oil, New Study Finds
• Bill Gates Speaks Out About Bitcoin’s Environmental Impact
• Bitcoin is All The Rage But It is Terrible for the Planet
• Bill Gates Company Gives $50 Million to Make Sustainable Jet Fuel as Cheap as Fossil Fuel
• ‘Nuclear Bros’ Believe Nuclear Energy Will Solve Climate Change

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take the initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!