Will Costa Rica be the next Central American nation to officially adopt bitcoin as legal tender?
Two new businesses launched within the last year are both testimony to the growing interest in Bitcoin in the country.
In December Reuters first reported on Data Center CR in Poas, the first company to host large-scale Bitcoin mining in the Central American region.
Eduardo Kooper, CEO of Data Center CR spun up the company after ICE, the national electric utility stopped buying energy from his small 3 megawatt hydroelectric plant because public demand dropped following the government’s post-Covid imposed lockdown and its impact on the national economy.
Though skeptical at first Kooper came to embrace bitcoin because bitcoin miners gave his hydropower plant a whole new purpose.
“Kooper said international cryptocurrency miners are looking for clean, cheap energy and a stable internet connection, which Costa Rica has plenty of. However, he said Costa Rica’s government should be more aggressive about trying to attract more crypto mining business, although he gave no specifics.”
Kooper’s hydroelectric plant now powers over 650 computers owned by 150 ‘miners’ working around the clock doing the advanced mathematical calculations required to mint Bitcoins.
Another new company reported on in January by The Tico Times, Bitcoin Jungle caught the attention this week of one of the world’s leading tech titans.
On Tuesday, following a tweet about Bitcoin Jungle’s wallet innovations, the CEO of Block (formerly Square) Jack Dorsey started following Bitcoin Jungle on Twitter as reported by Big Tech Alert.
Naturally Bitcoin Jungle (@BitcoinJungleCR) responded with a Twitter thanks. After all, it’s not every day a champion of Bitcoin of this stature takes notice of a small Costa Rican company on the Costa Ballena on Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific coast.
