Amid notable diplomatic engagement between the United States and Iraq, recent statements by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Tamim have sparked speculation in the bitcoin community about Iraq's possible entry into btc mining at the nation-state level.
Will Iraq start mining bitcoin?
During a Press conference Together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Deputy Prime Minister Tamim discussed a series of initiatives aimed at modernizing Iraq's energy sector and diversifying its economy. Among the topics addressed was the use of new technologies to capture combustion gas, a byproduct of oil extraction that is often burned and wasted.
Capturing flare gas is a major point of interest for the bitcoin community, as this excess gas can be converted into electricity and used to power mining operations. This process not only provides an economically viable solution to a waste problem, but also aligns with global efforts to reduce environmental pollution, an issue highlighted by Tamim in his speech.
“The Government of Iraq is working for the prosperity of the Iraqi people, at the same time to pay its debts to the Iraqi nation, especially with regard to the different phases of the energy sector and the use of new technologies and modernization of the energy sector. to reduce pollution. The Government is expanding its partnership and entering into agreements to be able, for example, to use technologies to capture flue gas,” said Tamim, emphasizing the shift towards innovative and sustainable energy solutions.
This development has led Joe Kerr, a prominent bitcoin expert known on x as @Boomstick44, to suggest that Iraq could be moving towards adopting large-scale btc mining. Kerr tweeted: “Tell me your country is going to start mining bitcoin for the US without telling me.” Kerr cited Tamim's statement and saw it as proof that he could only refer to btc mining, while the Iraqi official tried to avoid using the word.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet” data-width=”500″ data-dnt=”true”>
Tell me your country is going to start mining twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>#bitcoin for the United States without telling me…
The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister:
'The Government of Iraq is working for the prosperity of the Iraqi people, at the same time to pay its debts to the Iraqi nation, especially when it comes… https://t.co/S4gxAdHrLb
-Joe Kerr (@Boomstick44) twitter.com/Boomstick44/status/1779882227301589346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>April 15, 2024
In addition to the potential environmental and economic benefits, Deputy Prime Minister Tamim also touched on improving tourism, following a similar playbook as El Salvador, which has integrated btc into its economy, improving its appeal to a global audience interested in btc.
El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as legal tender has sparked interest in its tourism sector, suggesting a potential path for Iraq to link technological innovation with economic diversification.
While official confirmation from the Iraqi government on the start of bitcoin mining operations is pending and pure speculation at the moment, the connections drawn by Kerr between Deputy Prime Minister Tamim's comments are notable and underline a growing trend of nations to leverage btc to address economic and environmental issues. challenges.
As Bitcoinist reported, six countries already officially mine bitcoin at the nation-state level. These include El Salvador, the Kingdom of Bhutan, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Ethiopia. For example, Bhutan has secretly spent millions building a national bitcoin mining operation to avoid an economic crisis.
At press time, btc was trading at $63,353.
Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com
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