Starcloud: To Begin Bitcoin Mining in Space Orbit Later This Year

Odaily News Starcloud, a Nvidia-backed orbital data center startup, will begin mining Bitcoin in space orbit later this year when it launches its second spacecraft. Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston stated that running ASIC miners in space orbit is one of the most compelling use cases for space computing. On a per-kilowatt-hour basis, ASIC miners cost only about $1,000, which is approximately 30 times cheaper than a $30,000 GPU. Philip Johnston believes that Bitcoin mining consumes about 20 GW of continuous power on Earth, and in the future, the industry will move to space orbit. Founded in early 2024, Starcloud aims to build orbital data centers to address AI energy demands. Its data centers consist of approximately 88,000 satellites, primarily powered by solar energy.