Virunga, Africa's oldest national park, declared a World Heritage Site 44 years ago, has become the first national park in the world to mine Bitcoin.
Bitcoin mining has become an opportunity for the sustainability of one of the most important parks in the world, such as the Virunga National Park, located in the Republic of Congo.
The scientific publication MIT Technology Review reported that this national park, which is home to more than half of Africa's land animal species, is operating thousands of Bitcoin mining rigs. The crypto mining equipment, which is installed and distributed in 10 containers, is powered by energy from a hydroelectric plant within the park, which guarantees green energy to carry out this activity in a sustainable way.
With this initiative, Virunga National Park is demonstrating the potential of the Bitcoin network beyond the financial sector.
Generally, Bitcoin mining is not related to environmental protection. However, Virunga National Park is proving that cryptocurrency can indeed make a significant contribution to environmental conservation and protection, to the rich wildlife and endangered species in the African jungles, specifically in the Congo.
Bitcoin mining as a solution for wildlife protection in Africa
In an effort to maintain and preserve the national park, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), the entity that oversees the development of the park, has launched crypto mining facilities in order to generate the necessary resources for the operation, maintenance and operation of the park in a sustainable and ecological manner.
Since 2018, Virunga Park has gone through a series of political situations and conflicts that have prevented its proper development and operation and have brought it to the brink of collapse, as explained by the current director of the park, Emmanuel de Merode to MIT Technology Review. For this reason, the most capitalized cryptocurrency in the world, Bitcoin has become your main alternative to generate income that contribute to sustainability.
“It’s not something we expected (Bitcoin), but we had to find a solution. Otherwise we would have gone bankrupt as a national park.”, de Merode commented.
Virunga National Park first began mining bitcoins in September 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, after de Merode met with Sébastien Gouspillou of mining company Big Block Green Services to kick off the project.
Back then The park was generating approximately $150.000 dollars a month from mining this cryptocurrency., which was almost the same amount generated by tourism activities, said de Merode.
Currently, despite the fall that the cryptocurrency market suffered in 2022, the park director assured that mining bitcoins remains a profitable activity and an extraordinary solution to the park's economic problems.
Serodino and El Salvador rely on Bitcoin
Just like in Virunga, bitcoin mining has become an alternative solution in other parts of the world, such as in Serodino, a city located in Argentina that is financing the construction of railways and boosting its economic development with the mining of this cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin is also helping El Salvador boost its monetary sovereignty and economic development, to offer fair and accessible financial services to its citizens.
El Salvador declared Bitcoin the country's official currency in 2021.
Continue reading: Nigeria plans to regulate stablecoins as means of payment
