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The leadership of the Starcloud startup, which is developing data centers in Earth’s orbit, intends to mine cryptocurrency using its satellites. If the proposed plans come to fruition, it will mark the first company to mine bitcoins beyond our planet.
The use of ASIC miners in space is expected to be “one of the most promising” applications for these devices, stated Starcloud’s CEO Philip Johnston. Specialized mining chips are significantly less expensive than more general-purpose Nvidia chips.
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“GPUs cost 30 times more per kilowatt of power compared to ASIC chips. For instance, Nvidia B200 chips will be priced at $30,000 for consuming 1 kW, while ASIC chips of equivalent power will cost around $1,000. Bitcoin mining consumes approximately 20 GW of power, making it illogical to conduct this on Earth, and eventually, all miners will relocate to space,” Johnston believes.
The Starcloud startup emerged in early 2024 with the goal of establishing data centers in space to address the rising energy consumption associated with artificial intelligence. Last November, the company launched its first satellite equipped with Nvidia H100 chips. This was a test launch, during which engineers will evaluate the equipment and refine the architecture of cloud computing in orbit.
In 2024, a wallet containing 1 BTC was burned up in Earth’s atmosphere. The BitMEX exchange planned to send devices to the Moon, but the launch was unsuccessful.
