Blockstream is introducing Blockstream Energy – a new mining modular unit (MMU) that would make it easier for distant energy providers to benefit from bitcoin mining prospects.
In a Bloomberg interview, Adam Back, Blockstream CEO, explained that the rationale behind this move is the increasing wariness over the sustainability of bitcoin mining and its environmental impacts. The new service is targeted at energy producers who can sell surplus electricity to bitcoin miners.
To achieve this, Blockstream is collaborating with Square to set up a US-based bitcoin mining facility. Therefore, it is essentially a move that will “open source the business model” and expand the cryptocurrency’s reach.
But how does it actually work?
Back explains that the MMU is “like a shipping container.” The module acts like a mini data center that contains a mining facility and packaged in a shipping container format.
How Blockstream is introducing innovations
Indeed, it is not easy to set up a Bitcoin mine. Aspiring miners have several hurdles, including obtaining low-cost energy sources, constructing specialized facilities, acquiring ASICs, and maintaining continuous operations.
Blockstream Mining removed many of these obstacles by offering an end-to-end Bitcoin mining colocation solution that has assisted numerous institutions in getting their Bitcoin mines up and running as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Back also asserted that this new MMU is a breakthrough on many levels. For one, it can enhance the profitability and the expansion of the zero-emission power grid.
Since Blockstream does not possess “bi-directional capability” that’s enough to power a mining location, the new service allows Blockstream to operate such facilities remotely. Essentially, Blockstream is buying power from power producers and in exchange, they receive bitcoin exposure.
And now, Blockstream has taken it a step further by introducing the Blockstream Mining Note, a security token that gives more investors access to Bitcoin mining.
Blockstream Mining provides bitcoin mining equipment to companies and organizations. It also provides hosting services in which mining equipment is deployed before complete customer management is delivered.
Blockstream Energy operates MMUs, basically autonomously controllable mining operations. Energy producers can sell to MMU operators, which would otherwise be underutilized, such as turbine owners or nuclear power stations.
Energy producers may employ Blockstream MMUs for several purposes, including grid balance and improvement of carbon trade strategies. As MMU is internationally supplied and plug-and-play, several renewable energy sources may power them. Blockstream uses these MMU’s at sites that produce power to satisfy scalable energy needs that changes dynamically.
Back also reiterated that if famed Bitcoin founder Satoshi were alive, he would have been pleased at the “large scale” nature of the ecosystem at this point and especially, the “frenzy” that governs its participants around the world.