A look at Block-funded Gridless, which operates bitcoin mines in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia, powered through solar power and wasted energy from a geothermal site
WATCH NOW — Jack Dorsey backed start-up taps into geothermal, hydro and solar power to run bitcoin mines across Africa X: @kenziesigalos , @cnbc , and @jeromebailly . Forums: Slashdot X: MacKenzie Sigalos / @kenziesigalos : Decentralization is a key feature of #bitcoin bcs it means the network isn't controlled by any entity & can't be shut down, even if a govt disapproves. This volcanic-powered 500kw mine is a perfect example of how Gridless is helping to fortify the network: https://www.cnbc.com/... [video] @cnbc : CNBC's @KenzieSigalos reports from just outside Nairobi, Kenya, on Gridless, a company that's using clean energy sources to power bitcoin mines that don't need to rely on the local power grid. Watch the full video here: https://www.cnbc.com/... [video] Jérôme Bailly / @jeromebailly : I'm just back from Kenya. Impressed by this #Bitcoin mining project making renewables energy economically viable and powering thousands of households @whiteafrican @GridlessCompute Also use cases of crypto are so obvious there, solving remittances issues https://www.cnbc.com/... Forums: Slashdot : How a Renewable Energy-Powered Bitcoin Startup Helps Electrify Rural Africa
Context & Ripple Effects
Block’s backing of Gridless extends Jack Dorsey’s earlier $10 million renewable-mining funding commitment through Square, shifting the idea from a financing pledge to operating sites tied to local generation.
It also fits a regional precedent: Congo’s Virunga National Park used a hydropower-backed Bitcoin mine to fund park operations and infrastructure. Gridless adds solar, hydro, geothermal, and otherwise wasted geothermal energy to that model across multiple countries.
First-order effects
- Gridless gains Block-backed support for Bitcoin-mining operations in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia that run on solar, hydro, geothermal, and wasted geothermal energy.
- The projects create a paying computing load for generation that Gridless says also helps extend electricity access to rural households.
Second-order effects
- Local power developers and community-energy projects gain a potential anchor customer for generation that may otherwise be underused, while miners seeking lower-carbon power have another operating model to evaluate.
- Gridless’s approach puts pressure on the industry’s fossil-fuel-linked mining narrative by making power sourcing and local grid benefits central to the project case.
Third-order effects
- If repeatable, mining can become a flexible demand layer in distributed-energy projects rather than a load that depends on large, established grids.
- The larger constraint will be whether mining revenue, household electrification, and local power needs remain aligned; that determines whether this model is treated as infrastructure finance or merely energy arbitrage.
The trend: Bitcoin mining is increasingly being positioned as bring-your-own-power computing that can monetize stranded or locally generated renewable electricity while supporting energy infrastructure.