Bitcoin mine heat-recycling firm MintGreen closes seed round led by CoinShares

Coinshares is teaming up with MintGreen to recycle heat waste from Bitcoin mining.

Sustainable crypto mining firm MintGreen has completed its seed investment round, with top digital asset manager CoinShares leading the round.

A portion of the funds will likely be used to support two pilot projects intended to showcase how MintGreen’s proprietary technology can improve the energy efficiency of Bitcoin mining.

MintGreen has two pilot projects slated to commence next quarter. The first involves selling heat waste generated from Bitcoin mining to the Vancouver Island Sea Salt facility, where the heat being used to boil water and distil salt flakes.

Heat waste will also be repurposed by Canadian whiskey company, Shelter Point Distillery, in their production process.

A March 17 announcement from CoinShares notes the firms will work together to recycle heat waste from crypto mining into hot water and heating services — which will be sold to industrial clients.

The companies hope their efforts can change mainstream perceptions of Bitcoin mining as being wasteful and inefficient, with the blog post stating:

“We are excited to work with MintGreen, where we will join the board, and the like-minded investors we brought into this deal alongside us to help transform the Bitcoin mining landscape and its image in the mainstream media.”

MintGreen is a Canadian-based firm that builds and operates immersive Bitcoin mining systems with clean sourced energy.

Bitcoin has long struggled to overcome perceptions of being highly energy inefficient, with mainstream frequently comparing the energy expenditure of the mining sector to entire countries.

Last month, the BBC reported that Bitcoin mining is more energy intensive than the entire country of Argentina, with Cambridge University’s Michel Rauchs stating:

“It is really by design that Bitcoin consumes that much electricity. This is not something that will change in the future unless the Bitcoin price is going to significantly go down.”

However, mainstream analysis often overlooks the fact that most Bitcoin mines are powered by renewable energy that would otherwise go to waste, Cambridge University’s 3rd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study revealed more than three-quarters of miners use renewable energy sources.