Trump could establish a 10,000 EH/s Bitcoin mining center in Greenland using stranded energy if it joins the US.

Discussions regarding the United States acquiring Greenland have resurfaced in Washington, with miners closely monitoring the power initiatives on the island.

The White House indicated that the notion of a U.S. purchase of Greenland is an “active discussion,” as reported by Reuters.

For Bitcoin miners, the more pressing timeline is related to Greenland’s industrial power strategy.

How Greenland’s hydropower converts into tangible Bitcoin mining capacity

Greenland’s government announced its intention to initiate a public tender round in the latter half of 2026 for the two largest identified hydropower sites designated for industrial purposes, Tasersiaq (site 07.e) and Tarsartuup Tasersua (site 06.g), according to Naalakkersuisut.gl.

It stated that these two locations collectively could generate over 9,500 gigawatt-hours per year.

The calculations for mining are quite simple.

According to Bitmain, the Antminer S21 specifications show 200 TH/s at 3,500 watts, which translates to approximately 17.5 joules per terahash.

With a planning power usage effectiveness value near 1.1 (including cooling and overhead), 1 megawatt of facility power corresponds to roughly 0.052 exahash per second (EH/s) at 17.5 J/TH.

This suggests an output of about 0.041–0.061 EH/s within a 15–22 J/TH efficiency range.

Facility power (MW)	Hashrate ceiling (EH/s) @ 17.5 J/TH, PUE 1.1
5	0.26
25	1.30
50	2.60
100	5.19

Greenland’s current capacity is significantly lower than the aspirations outlined in the tender.

Nukissiorfiit reports approximately 91.3 megawatts of hydropower capability within its systems and an average electricity sales price of about DKK 1.81 per kilowatt-hour in 2024, as stated in its annual report.

Retail-like pricing at this level does not align well with the economics of mining.

This is why any substantial development relies on industrial power purchase agreements or behind-the-meter supply at new generation sources, rather than acquiring power in the manner of a typical consumer.

The absence of a national grid limits the avenues for expansion.

Power plants typically serve towns and communities as localized systems, with minimal interconnection, according to Trap Greenland.

This situation directs early concepts of “stranded” or surplus energy toward colocating flexible loads at specific facilities.

Reports from Greenland have mentioned leveraging surplus energy as a means to reduce energy costs, according to Greenland Review.

If 5–25 megawatts can be consolidated behind the meter near existing generation, the ceiling is approximately 0.21–1.52 EH/s across the 15–22 J/TH range (around 0.26–1.30 EH/s at 17.5 J/TH).

This is sufficient for pilot projects, but insufficient to influence global network share significantly.

The next significant development is Nuuk’s primary hydro facility.

Scaling Bitcoin mining in Greenland: from surplus power pilots to grid-level growth

Buksefjord is set to expand from 45 megawatts to 121 megawatts, with construction anticipated to commence in 2026 and commissioning aimed for 2032, according to NunaGreen.

The European Investment Bank’s project pipeline references a roughly 76-megawatt Buksefjord-3 project adjacent to the existing 45-megawatt facility.

If 50–121 megawatts of output were contracted for miners, the electrical ceiling would be around 2.07–7.33 EH/s across the 15–22 J/TH range (approximately 2.6–6.3 EH/s at 17.5 J/TH).

This assumes that these megawatts are not consumed by the growth in Nuuk’s demand and electrification initiatives.

The two-site tender marks the point where Greenland enters a discussion of gigawatt-scale potential.

More than 9,500 GWh annually translates to about 1.08 gigawatts of average power if fully harnessed.

This suggests an electricity-limited hashrate ceiling of around 44.8–65.7 EH/s across the 15–22 J/TH range (about 56.0 EH/s at 17.5 J/TH).

Tracking sites estimate the Bitcoin hashrate at approximately 1.03–1.17 zetahash per second (ZH/s), with minerstat estimating difficulty near 148 trillion, according to minerstat.

On that basis, a fully utilized 1.08 GW mining operation would represent about 4–6% of the current network hashrate, with the share decreasing if the global hashrate increases.

Could Trump-associated capital target Greenland’s energy surplus for Bitcoin mining growth?

Mining capital associated with Trump is already emerging, which is why Greenland’s power schedule may attract attention within the industry.

Hut 8 partnered with Eric Trump to establish American Bitcoin, merging Hut 8’s mining operations with an investment group that includes Donald Trump Jr., while Hut 8 retained an 80% stake.

American Bitcoin reported that installed hashrate increased to about 24 EH/s and noted fleet efficiency around 16.4 J/TH as of September 1, 2025, according to the company.

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Using the same PUE 1.1 planning value, 24 EH/s indicates approximately 430 megawatts of facility power at 16.4 J/TH (around 460 megawatts at 17.5 J/TH).

This means that a fully utilized 1.08 GW tender expansion could supply power for a fleet the size of American Bitcoin more than once, provided the offtake was dedicated to mining and if transmission and construction timelines were met.

Even in a “what if” scenario regarding sovereignty, the limitations remain practical.

Industrial hydro requires multi-year construction, substantial logistics, and long-term offtake, and mines necessitate resilient data connections, spare parts, and import capacity for ASIC fleets.

Greenland Connect connects Canada, Nuuk, Qaqortoq, and Iceland via subsea cable, according to Tusass, but does not address transmission to remote hydro basins.

Reliable, firm megawatts also compete against other demands.

The International Energy Agency has cautioned that AI will lead to increased electricity demand from data centers, which could elevate the opportunity cost of dedicating long-term renewable output to mining.

Diplomacy will influence financing conditions around any “Trump Greenland mine” concept.

European officials have emphasized that Greenland’s status relies on consent and sovereignty principles, according to Reuters.

The planned tender round in the second half of 2026 will establish the groundwork for any large-scale Bitcoin mining offtake from new hydropower sources on the island.

Why Greenland’s energy economics and geopolitics are crucial for large-scale Bitcoin mining

However, if Greenland were placed under U.S. jurisdiction and regarded as an energy development zone rather than a small, fragmented utility market, the renewable ceiling relevant for mining would transition from 1-GW-class hydro tenders to also include wind.

A systems study published in Energy and indexed on ScienceDirect indicates that Greenland’s onshore wind technical potential is approximately 333 GW nameplate, generating about 1,487 TWh annually under the assumption that 20% of Greenland’s ice-free area is available.

This corresponds to around 170 GW of average generation on an energy basis.

Output would be variable and would necessitate transmission, overbuild, curtailment, storage, and firming to accommodate a 24/7 load at scale.

Translating that energy-only ceiling into hashrate illustrates the theoretical extent to which the “Trump Greenland mine” narrative could be promoted.

At 15–22 J/TH with PUE around 1.1, 170 GW of average generation suggests roughly 7.0–10.4 ZH/s of hashing capacity if miners could utilize the average output as a flexible load, significantly exceeding today’s network.

The current hashrate is approximately 1 ZH/s, so securing enough mining equipment to support such a build-out makes this primarily a theoretical exercise regarding potential future limits.

Additionally, 10 ZH/s does not equate to a “24/7 firm baseload” unless substantial transmission, overbuild, curtailment, and storage/firming are added (or if one accepts downtime/variable operation). It’s a ceiling based on absorbing average wind energy rather than providing guaranteed power every hour.

Yet, a rough linear extrapolation of that same study’s land-availability assumption from 20% to 100% suggests approximately 7,435 TWh annually (about 848 GW average), or roughly 34.8–51.7 ZH/s.

This represents a physics-and-maps ceiling rather than a concrete building plan, given considerations for siting, permitting, ports, roads, and HVDC requirements.

According to IRENA, the global average installed cost for new onshore wind in 2023 was about $1,154 per kW.

This places 333 GW at roughly $384 billion in turbine costs alone, before factoring in Arctic premiums, transmission, and firming infrastructure.

OneMiners lists an Antminer S21 XP Hyd at 473 TH/s for $6,799. To utilize 333 GW, you would require approximately 21,141,650 miners, totaling around $143 billion.

However, this only accounts for the ASIC purchase price. It does not include shipping, duties/VAT, spare parts, racks/PSUs/networking, buildings, cooling/hydro loops, and commissioning, all of which become quite substantial at tens of millions of units.

Overall, assuming hardware is accessible (which it currently is not), an investment of around $427 billion could provide a miner located in Greenland with enough renewable energy-sourced hash power to dominate the $1.8 trillion Bitcoin network ten times over. Alternatively, around $55 billion would be needed to match the present network hashrate (this is not a simple 1/10th due to scaling complexities).

These figures are all preliminary estimates with numerous caveats and assumptions, but the reality remains that there is ample unused energy in Greenland to power the Bitcoin network multiple times. With the deployment of Starlink, it may also be possible to establish significant AI data centers.

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