Japanese Power Giant To Mine Bitcoin

The utility firm of Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Grid (TEPCO), is working with TRIPLE-1. Bitcoin mining and to capitalize on the excess power in its grid is the aim. TRIPLE-1 is a local hardware manufacturer.

The company’s nuclear reactors were touched during the earthquake and tsunami of 2012 in Fukushima region. Since then the company had tough time to gain its reputation and energy back. It is claimed that it was operating without proper risk control in place.

Despite the mishap, TEPCO remains the company with largest utility company. Its market cap has reduced to more than half of what it originally was, 6 billion USD.

TEPCO’s collaboration with other company for Bitcoin mining

In September, 2022 TEPCO formed a company called Agile Energy X with the goal of generating digital value from the utility’s surplus electricity, including through bitcoin mining. They released a statement on Monday which stated that the two company has signed a memorandum of understanding with TRIPLE-1, a local rig company. Its aim is to to build distributed data centres around the nation that use TRIPLE-1’s semiconductors to take use of abundant renewable energy.

Also read: Will The Slow Down In BTC Mining Hamper Bitcoin’s Short Term Price?

In a report published this year, Ministry of Energy, Japan said that they have been producing massive renewable energy. However, it goes to waste as there has been increase in curtailment of renewable energy. Not enough renewable energy has been able to connect due to traffic on the grid.

According to the press release, the project aims to “make effective use of spare power” by generating fresh demand for cryptocurrency mining and AI processing.

In Tokyo, the three companies have already established a demonstration project that consists of a 1.5 MW data centre with 1,300 computers. The press release photo resemble mining rigs in it.

Crypto mining regulations in Japan

In October, this year, Japanese government passed a law to make bitcoin mining laws easier in the country. They are hopeful to revive the poor crypto situation in the country. Japan has very well regulated cryptocurrency market. It recognizes cryptos like Bitcoin and other digital assets as wealth under the Payment Services Act (PSA).