The future of Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto mining could involve a move away from coal and Asia – and toward hydroelectric energy and the Latin America region, with a Costa Rican power plant now feeding electricity to “hundreds” of mining rigs.

Although crypto mining is still very much a niche industry in Latin America, the picture is changing fast for miners, who were told to shut down their rigs in China last year, and have faced serious disruptions in Eastern European and Central Asian regions such as Kazakhstan, Georgia, Kosovo, Abkhazia, and Russia.

Bitcoin has also been labeled as a major polluter by environmental activists, who accuse it of being carbon-intensive. (Learn more: A Closer Look at the Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining)

But there are signs all that may be changing. Reuters reported “more than 650 machines from 150 customers” now “operate non-stop from eight containers” receiving power from a hydroelectric plant next to the Poas River.

The power station is owned by a hydroelectric company run by Eduardo Kooper, whose family operates a company named Data Center CR at the site of the plant. Reuters remarked that the firm actually owns three plants that are valued at USD 13.5m, packing a combined 3 Megawatt capacity.

Kooper had been selling his firm’s electricity to the grid for three decades, but was forced to “reinvent” the business during the coronavirus pandemic when “the government stopped buying electricity” due “to surplus power supply.”

He was quoted as explaining:

“We had to pause activity for nine months, and exactly one year ago I heard about bitcoin, blockchain and digital mining. I was very skeptical at first, but we saw that this business consumes a lot of energy and we have a surplus.”

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