Colombia wants to mine bitcoin with surplus renewable energy
President Gustavo Petro said Colombia’s Caribbean coast could host bitcoin mining facilities powered by surplus renewable energy, following a path similar to Paraguay.
What to know:
- President Gustavo Petro is promoting Colombia’s Caribbean cities as bitcoin mining hubs that would use the country’s surplus renewable energy.
- Petro has proposed giving the Indigenous Wayúu community co-ownership in potential mining projects, framing the plan as a major development opportunity for the region.
- Colombia hopes to follow Paraguay’s example of leveraging cheap, clean power for mining as U.S. operators pivot toward AI, though turning Petro’s proposal into concrete policy may be difficult.
Petro called it “an immense boost to the development of the Caribbean,” and floated the idea of giving the Wayúu community, Colombia’s largest Indigenous group based on the same coast, co-ownership of the project.
A 2024 World Bank report found Colombia generates as much as 75% of its electricity from renewable sources, more than twice the global average. The Caribbean coast in particular has wind and solar capacity that the country has barely tapped commercially.
Petro believes mining bitcoin with that idle electricity beats letting it go unused, with the side benefit of avoiding the fossil-fuel emissions concerns that have dogged the industry elsewhere.
His remarks were a direct response to an earlier X post from Luxor Technology’s Alessandro Cecere, who flagged that Paraguay’s share of global hashrate has zoomed to 4.3% on the back of cheap hydroelectric power from the Itaipu Dam.
