El Salvador’s first volcano-powered Bitcoin mining project goes live
El Salvador marks the launch of Lava Pool today, the country’s first Bitcoin mining pool powered by renewable geothermal energy. The venture, a collaboration between energy company Volcano Energy and tech corporation Luxor Technology, is the country’s first attempt to harness the abundance of renewable geothermal energy for crypto mining. According to the press release, the Lava Pool will be maintained by Volcano Energy, a public-private partnership that has pledged to commit 23% of its net income to the Salvadoran government.
The pool is set to benefit from Luxor’s Hashrate Forward Marketplace, which offers hedging strategies to protect against market volatility—a mechanism already adopted by leading players in the Bitcoin mining market. Volcano Energy’s CSO, Gerson Martinez, highlighted the importance of this project, stating that it is a vivid manifestation of El Salvador’s pioneering role in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The move emphasizes the country’s ongoing efforts to merge Bitcoin into its energy infrastructure—a strategy that could significantly bolster the economics of new energy projects, particularly in remote areas, providing immediate revenue and offering flexible load management capabilities to support the grid during periods of high demand or stress.
