El Salvador mined its first bitcoin using volcanic energy

Nayib Bukele – President of El Salvador – recently took to Twitter with some mining figures. It appears that the country’s developing volcanic mining facility has produced its first Bitcoin.

Volcanic Bitcoin

As revealed by Bukele earlier today, the gains produced by the volcano are still small. However, the president still seemed excited enough to kick off the project, showing off his new numbers alongside a single heart emoji.

At the time of publication, the establishment had not received any bitcoin payments. However, the image showed 0.004 bitcoin awaiting payment and around 0.006 bitcoin preparing to be mined. In total, the facility was on the verge of receiving about a hundredth of bitcoin – or US $ 470 with today’s prices.

“We are still testing and installing,” said Bukele, “but this is officially the first extraction of #Bitcoin from #volcanode.”

The president shared a video of the “volcanode” a few days ago, including an aerial view of its new mining facility. The images showed electricity generated using the volcano, alongside a man organizing a series of ASICs. The revelation – which he called “First Steps” – received very positive comments on Twitter.

Likewise, Bukele received many kudos for his milestone today, including from famous Bitcoin HODLer Michael Saylor.

Environmentally friendly HODLing and mining

The new facility contributes to El Salvador’s apparent effort to HODL as much Bitcoin as possible. Less than two weeks ago, the country bought another 150 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 700. This came just days after the country became the first country to legalize BTC as a payment method. .

It is also an environmentally friendly method of mining using untapped volcano energy at no carbon cost. Many have criticized Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system for being too harmful to the environment due to its energy consumption. However, the environmental damage caused by the largest cryptocurrency tends to be overstated, as almost half of all hashing power is generated from sustainable sources.

Even Elon Musk, who stopped accepting Bitcoin payments in May due to weather concerns, admits the network is already becoming more sustainable.