Bitcoin Being Sold to Fund Energy Infrastructure Projects: A Deep Dive into Crypto’s Role in Powering the Future
The relationship between Bitcoin and energy infrastructure has become increasingly complex and interconnected in 2025. While Bitcoin itself consumes enormous amounts of electricity, the cryptocurrency industry is simultaneously becoming a source of capital and innovation for building the very energy systems that power modern society. Understanding whether Bitcoin is being sold to fund energy infrastructure requires examining multiple angles of this evolving relationship.
The Energy Consumption Reality
Bitcoin’s appetite for electricity is staggering. In 2025, Bitcoin mining consumes an estimated 173 terawatt-hours of energy annually, with some estimates placing the figure as high as 211.58 terawatt-hours when accounting for broader cryptocurrency infrastructure. To put this in perspective, this consumption is comparable to the total energy usage of an entire country like Poland. Bitcoin mining currently draws approximately 10 gigawatts of continuous power, which translates to roughly 168 terawatt-hours per year.
The energy intensity extends to individual transactions as well. Each Bitcoin transaction requires approximately 1,335 kilowatt-hours of energy in 2025, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of an average U.S. household over 45 days. These numbers have sparked significant debate about Bitcoin’s environmental impact and its relationship with global energy systems.
How Bitcoin Mining Drives Energy Infrastructure Investment
Rather than simply consuming energy, Bitcoin mining has become a catalyst for developing new energy infrastructure. The industry’s massive power requirements have created economic incentives for building renewable energy projects, upgrading electrical grids, and developing innovative power solutions. This dynamic has attracted major players in the cryptocurrency space to invest directly in energy infrastructure.
Tether, one of the largest cryptocurrency companies, has emerged as a particularly aggressive investor in this space. The company announced in June 2025 that it aims to become the world’s largest Bitcoin miner by the end of the year. To achieve this ambitious goal, Tether has invested over 2 billion dollars in expanding its energy and mining operations. These investments span across Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador, with 15 different sites currently operational or under development.
What makes Tether’s approach particularly significant is that the company is not simply building mining farms. Instead, Tether is investing in comprehensive energy infrastructure including renewable energy projects, new electrical substations, and partial ownership stakes in existing mining operations. This strategy demonstrates how cryptocurrency companies are using their capital to build foundational energy systems that benefit entire regions.
The Renewable Energy Connection
One of the most important developments in Bitcoin mining is the industry’s shift toward renewable energy sources. In 2025, renewable energy accounts for 52.4 percent of all energy used in Bitcoin mining globally. This includes wind power, hydroelectric power, and nuclear energy. Natural gas represents 38.2 percent of Bitcoin mining’s energy mix, making it the leading single source. Coal has declined significantly to just 8.9 percent of Bitcoin mining energy, down substantially from previous years.
Hydropower has emerged as the top renewable source for Bitcoin miners, supplying 23.4 percent of the industry’s total energy consumption. This preference for hydroelectric power reflects the economic advantages of locating mining operations in regions with abundant water resources and established hydroelectric infrastructure. Countries like Iceland and Norway have become attractive mining hubs because they offer cheap renewable power and cool climates that reduce cooling costs for mining equipment.
The economic incentives are compelling. Mining operations that use curtailed renewable energy, which is excess power that would otherwise be wasted, can absorb up to 15 percent of local grid oversupply. This creates a valuable use case for renewable energy that might otherwise be lost. Additionally, flexible renewable-based mining setups can offer up to 80 percent price savings during low-demand periods, making the economics of renewable-powered mining extremely attractive.
Blockchain Technology Financing Clean Energy
Beyond mining operations themselves, blockchain technology is being deployed to finance energy infrastructure projects. Turbo Energy, a Nasdaq-listed solar energy storage company, launched a groundbreaking initiative in November 2025 to tokenize renewable energy financing using the Stellar blockchain network. This represents a concrete application of cryptocurrency technology to real-world energy infrastructure.
The Turbo Energy initiative works by tokenizing debt used to finance Power Purchase Agreements for solar and battery installations. These tokens are issued and managed through a tokenization platform and recorded on the Stellar blockchain. The tokens represent fractional shares of project financing, allowing multiple investors to participate in clean energy infrastructure at lower entry costs than traditional financing models would require.
The pilot project began at a supermarket in Spain and represents a significant step toward mainstream adoption of tokenized real-world assets. By removing intermediaries and offering automated, transparent oversight, blockchain-based financing can lower friction in energy investments. The Energy-as-a-Service market that this model supports was valued at 74.4 billion dollars in 2024 and is projected to nearly double by 2030.
The Indirect Benefits for Industrial Companies
The energy and infrastructure demands created by Bitcoin mining have created opportunities for industrial companies that were not previously involved in cryptocurrency. DMC Global, an industrial company with ticker symbol BOOM, exemplifies how traditional industrial firms can benefit from Bitcoin’s infrastructure boom. While DMC has no direct involvement in cryptocurrency, the company’s energy solutions and construction capabilities align with the infrastructure needs created by Bitcoin mining and data center expansion.
DMC Global operates through divisions including DynaEnergetics, which provides industrial explosives and energy services, and Arcadia, which specializes in architectural products. These capabilities position the company to support infrastructure development in energy-rich regions where Bitcoin mining clusters are emerging. In Q3 2025, DMC demonstrated strong execution by reducing net debt by 47 percent to 30.1 million dollars while securing a 20 million dollar petrochemical project.
Data Center Growth and AI Integration
The growth of Bitcoin mining infrastructure is occurring alongside rapid expansion in data center capacity driven by artificial intelligence adoption and cloud computing. Data center growth is projected to expand at a 7.2 percent compound annual growth rate through 2030. This convergence of Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure creates synergies in energy demand and infrastructure development.
Some observers have noted that Bitcoin’s waste heat could potentially be repurposed to power AI data centers, while AI could simultaneously help optimize Bitcoin mining operations. This represents an emerging opportunity for integrated energy solutions that serve multiple purposes within the broader digital infrastructure ecosystem.
Strategic Mining Investments and Network Security
The investment in Bitcoin mining infrastructure is not purely driven by profit motives. Tether’s CTO explained that while buying Bitcoin directly is typically more profitable than mining it from a purely financial perspective, Tether’s direct exposure to Bitcoin creates strategic incentives to help ensure network stability. This perspective reveals that major cryptocurrency companies view mining infrastructure investment as a means of protecting the networks that underpin their operations.
Tether’s mining sites across Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador include not only mining equipment but