Ethiopia increases BTC hashrate with 600MW commitment to Bitcoin mining

Ethan Vera, co-founder and COO at Luxor stated that Ethiopia had increased its BTC hashrate as the 600 MW (megawatts) dedicated to mining is now fully operational. Avalon A1346 and Antminer S19J Pro models were Ethiopia’s most popular mid-generation mining rigs.

Vera reportedly toured Ethiopia recently in the company of peers from the mining industry and government officials. He claimed that the EEP (Ethiopian Electric Power) had confirmed support for Ethiopia’s BTC mining industry, promising to energize hundreds more megawatts by the end of the year.

Vera added that Ethiopia was an excellent location given the low cost of power coupled with the hashrate capacity of 100 TH/s per unit with 30J/TH efficiency.

Luxor spearheads Ethiopia’s Bitcoin mining 

We participated in the second @GAMA_alliance conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ethiopia leads Africa for deployed hashrate at 600MW with much more hashrate to come.

Luxor is looking forward to continuing to support miners in Africa with machine importation, & custom firmware pic.twitter.com/lHKcwxSpSL

— Luxor Technology 🟧⛏️ (@luxor) October 7, 2024

Luxor’s Vera mentioned that he participated in the second GAMA Alliance conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where it emerged that the hosts had increased BTC mining hashrate with more improvements to come.

A power capacity of 600 MW with S19J Pro or similar equipment models indicated a 19EH/s hashrate capacity in the country, constituting nearly 2.5% of Bitcoin’s total hashrate.

Bloomberg noted Ethiopia’s rising hashrate early this year, reporting growing interest from Chinese investors. 

Some Chinese BTC miners declared Ethiopia represented a unique blend of political and economic advantages, and some executives said it could potentially rival Texas.

“Ethiopia will become one of the most popular destinations for Chinese miners,”

– Nuo Xu, founder of the China Digital Mining Association

BitCluster’s BWP started shipping machines operated by Chinese miners in December 2023 as the company opened a 120 MW mining center.

Vera noted that Ethiopia had risen to become one of the world’s top recipients of Bitcoin mining machines from Luxor Technology.

Hiwot Eshetu, EEP’s marketing and business development director, reported that 21 BTC miners had struck power supply deals with the state power monopoly. Hiwot confirmed that the EEP had temporarily stopped signing new contracts to ensure well-managed and controlled processes.

Ethiopia’s journey to BTC mining dominance in Africa

Chinese BTC mining investors were the first foreigners to be drawn to Ethiopia after looking around for cheap power and loose regulations. Beijing kicked out BTC miners in 2021, and Ethiopia allowed BTC mining to start in 2022, although crypto trading was still banned. Several Chinese companies had helped build the $4.8 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam from where miners could draw their power.

Luxor’s Vera said that QRB Labs pioneered Bitcoin mining and spent over two years of painstaking discussions and negotiations to clear regulatory and operations red tape. He noted with concern that while operators like QRB Labs went by the book to ensure clear regulatory approvals, some Chinese and Russian miners played it ‘fast-and-loose.’  According to the Luxor COO, some foreigners were not afraid to bribe or ‘skirt regulations.’

The abundance of stranded hydro and the government’s plan to expand the grid generation by 1.7 GW over the next 10 years could potentially make Ethiopia one of the largest BTC mining hubs in Africa in the near future.