The orbital data center company will begin mining Bitcoin in space

Starcloud – A space-based data center startup backed by Nvidia – will become the first company to mine Bitcoin from space when their second spacecraft is launched later this year. This is a major step forward, taking the cryptocurrency industry beyond Earth’s boundaries.

In a post on X platform on Saturday, Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston stated: “Starcloud will be the first company to mine Bitcoin in space.” Previously, he revealed his ambition to mine Bitcoin in space during an interview with HyperChange on Thursday.

In the interview, Johnston shared that using specialized Bitcoin mining hardware (ASICs) is one of the most promising applications of computing technology in space. He emphasized that, compared to GPUs, ASICs offer significantly better economic efficiency due to much lower costs.

“GPUs are about 30 times more expensive per kilowatt or per watt than ASICs,” Johnston explained. “A B200 chip with 1 kilowatt capacity can cost up to $30,000, while a similarly powered ASIC costs around $1,000.”

Additionally, in his X post, Johnston predicted that space-based Bitcoin mining will become a huge industry in the future, thanks to its superior economics compared to mining on Earth.

“Bitcoin mining currently consumes about 20 GW of continuous power. This is no longer feasible on Earth. In the future, all mining will be moved to space,” Johnston emphasized.

Starcloud’s Vision – Moving Data Centers to Space

Founded in early 2024, Starcloud aims to build space-based data centers to meet the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence (AI). In November last year, the company successfully launched a satellite carrying NVIDIA H100 GPUs into orbit, marking the first time such powerful GPUs have operated in space.

Currently, Starcloud’s data centers, which include a network of about 88,000 satellites, are mainly powered by solar energy – a sustainable and efficient solution for supporting complex computational activities.

Sending Bitcoin to Mars – An Interplanetary Ambition

Alongside its plan to mine Bitcoin in space, the idea of sending Bitcoin to other planets has also been proposed. Last year, tech entrepreneurs Jose E. Puente and Carlos Puente presented a solution for interplanetary Bitcoin transmission.

In a September interview with Cointelegraph, Jose E. Puente explained that, in theory, Bitcoin could be sent to Mars in just three minutes using NASA’s optical links or Starlink, combined with a new interplanetary timestamping system.

While a human presence on Mars would be needed to receive the transaction, the transfer process could be carried out through space stations—such as antennas, satellites, or even relay stations around the Moon’s orbit—before reaching Mars. However, Puente noted that mining Bitcoin directly on Mars would not be feasible due to signal latency between the planets.

Challenges in Bitcoin Mining

In recent months, profit margins from Bitcoin mining have significantly narrowed, mainly due to Bitcoin’s price dropping nearly 48% from its peak of $126,080 on October 6. However, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has decreased by 7%, from a record 155.9 trillion units in November to 145 trillion, providing some relief for miners amid market volatility.

With ongoing technological advancements and ambitions to conquer space, Starcloud is opening a promising new chapter for both the cryptocurrency industry and space technology sectors.