Bitcoin is hardly known for its environmental qualities, nor its affiliation with, uhh, conservation efforts. But a strange situation has arisen in the Congo. While other mining initiatives continue to ravage the country, the practice of Bitcoin mining—which is to say, hosting server farms where CPUs can waste heaps of unnecessary energy (and heat) by performing complex calculations in order to verify financial transactions on a digital ledger—has apparently emerged as an unexpected source of some potential positivity.
Well, sort of. Maybe. As the MIT Technology Review recently covered, the Virunga National Park has turned to hosting Bitcoin mines in effort to provide conservation funding, protecting not only land but tons of endangered animals as well:
After four years of disease outbreaks, pandemic lockdowns, and bloodshed, Virunga badly needs money, and the region badly needs opportunities. The Congolese government provides around just 1% of the park's operating budget, leaving it to largely fend for itself. That's why Virunga is betting big on cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin, though, isn't usually associated with conservation or community development. It's often known for the opposite. But here it's part of a larger plan to turn Virunga's coveted natural resources—from land to hydropower—into benefits for both the park and locals. While operations like this mine may be unconventional, they're profitable and they're green.
Proceeds from the sale of Bitcoin are already helping to pay for park salaries, as well as its infrastructure projects like roads and water pumping stations. Elsewhere, power from other park hydro plants supports modest business development.
Granted, the article also opens up with the (dramatically compelling!) anecdote of armed militias patrolling the parks to protect the mines—a dystopian image in its own right, though perhaps one that's no worse than any of the other armed conflicts that plague the resource-raped nation. Of course, there is an inherent conflict in funding environmental conservation efforts while also producing insane amounts of unnecessary carbon emissions. But whether that's better or worse than funding conservation efforts through the pockets of trophy-hunting poachers—well, I guess that's up for debate.
Gorillas, militias, and Bitcoin: Why Congo's most famous national park is betting big on crypto [Adam Popescu / Technology Review]
Previously:
• Bruce Sterling in 1994, talking about crypto backdoors and the future of VR
• Today's terrifying Web security vulnerability, courtesy of the 1990s crypto wars
• How my friend recovered $2 million locked in a crypto wallet
• Crypto influencer convicted in $110m scam
