Ethiopia Targets Billions With State-Backed Bitcoin Mining
Key Takeaways:Ethiopia is Headed to State Controlled Bitcoin MiningDoes Ethiopia Matter in Global Bitcoin Mining?The Major Benefit of Cheap Hydropower2.5% of Global Hashrate Is Already in EthiopiaBitcoin Mining Fits Ethiopia’s Digital Ethiopia 2030 Strategy
The mining project is part of the larger Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy in which Ethiopia aims to leverage technology to aid economic development and modernization.
Bitcoin mining contributes to the following functions in this system:
- Commercializing surplus electricity which could be used for nothing.
- Favoring the enhancement of the data infrastructure.
- Invention of technical employment related to hardware, cooling and data functions.
Bitcoin mining can be both capital intensive and skills transfer opportunities can be gained. The mining farms are large and demand knowledge of electrical engineering, network security, data center management and hardware maintenance.
Through a joint venture with other world renowned companies, Ethiopia is planning to localize the aspects of this knowledge rather than outsourcing all the technical operations.
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