Energy mega-corporation ExxonMobil is said to be starting a project to mine Bitcoin at a facility in North Dakota, according to insiders.
The project has been developed over the course of the last year and involves Denver-based company Crusoe Energy Systems.
The project is said to involve the use of gas that would otherwise be burned off and utilising it instead to create energy that fuels computer mining software that harvests Bitcoins.
A veteran of the company, Eric Obrock, said on LinkedIn that he:
"Proposed and led the first successful commercial and technical demonstration of using Bitcoin Proof-of-Work mining as a viable alternative to natural gas flaring in the oil patch."
Bitcoins are created using computers to solve complex mathematical puzzles that are then rewarded to those who solve the problem. While this could be done at home in the early days of Bitcoin, the scarcity of today's new Bitcoin's means that solving the problems requires hundreds or even thousands of computers at high capacity, which in turn requires a huge amount of fuel and energy, often more costly than the Bitcoins won.
ExxonMobil is said to believe that using the gas that would normally be burnt or 'flared off' for this function could cut emissions by 63% and make gas extraction a less harmful source of energy.
Cully Cavness, president of Crusoe, said:
"This is just a great way to bring that demand to the wasted energy and solve two problems at once. Solve the energy appetite of bitcoin and solve the stranded energy, flare gas problem for the energy industry."
Adding:
"We're really moving the needle on flared volumes. More than 10 million cubic feet of gas per day that would be flared is not flared because we've deployed our systems."
Last year it was revealed that the nation of El Salvador, a country than now counts Bitcoin as legal tender, is planning its own Bitcoin mining operation that will utilise the natural energy produced by the nation's volcanoes.
[Based on reporting by: CNBC]
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