Leading electric vehicle company Tesla Inc TSLA is helping two companies mine Bitcoin BTC/USD. Here are the details.
What Happened: A partnership was announced in April between Tesla, Block Inc SQ and Blockstream to use Tesla’s Megapacks.
An open-source Bitcoin mining facility will use a solar farm and Megapack system from Tesla to provide the power needed to mine Bitcoin.
The first four Megapacks were recently delivered to the facility in Texas, as reported by Electrek. This will be the first Bitcoin mining facility to use Tesla’s solar and battery power as a power source that is partnered with the automaker and energy company.
“Megapacks have landed, repeat the Megapacks have landed!” Blockstream said in a tweet.
The company said the 100% renewable zero-emission facility to mine Bitcoin “is just getting started.”
Blockstream launched a token, which helped raise around $40 million. The funding has helped with costs for the mining facility and also gives token holders an investment in the success of the project.
Related Link: How To Buy Bitcoin
Why It’s Important: The partnership with Blockstream sees two large public companies that have Bitcoin on their balance sheet partner to help mine the cryptocurrency.
Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in February 2021. The automaker sold $272 million of the cryptocurrency in the first quarter of 2021 in a move CEO Elon Musk said was done to prove liquidity. At the end of the recently reported quarter, Tesla had $1.26 billion in digital assets on its balance sheet.
Tesla previously accepted Bitcoin as a form of payment for its vehicles before suspending the payment option. The company said it was concerned about the use of fossil fuels to mine Bitcoin. Providing the solar power and energy needed to help mine Bitcoin in Texas could help Tesla offset those concerns and return to accepting Bitcoin for its vehicles.
Price Action: On Thursday morning, Tesla shares are up 5.49% to $695.95; Bitcoin is trading at $29,227.71.
Photo: Courtesy Tesla Inc.
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