Colombia Could Use Waterfalls to Produce Bitcoin, Not Cocaine: Senator Petro

A high-profile Colombian politician has suggested the country look to El Salvador for inspiration and mine Bitcoin using renewable energy—instead of producing cocaine. 

Gustavo Petro, a leftist senator retweeted a story about El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announcing that the country had started mining Bitcoin using volcanic energy and commented: “What if the Pacific coast took advantage of the steep falls of the rivers of the western mountains to produce all the energy of the coast and replace cocaine with energy for cryptocurrencies?” 

President Bukele, who made Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador last month, claims the Central American nation will mine Bitcoin using geothermal power from its volcanoes. 

¿Y que tal que el litoral pacífico aprovechara las caídas de alta pendiente de los rios de la cordillera occidental para producir toda la energía del litoral y reemplazar cocaína con la energía para las criptomonedas?

La moneda virtual es pura información y por tanto energía. https://t.co/65xdN2whuO

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 2, 2021

Bitcoin mining is the process of using powerful computers to verify transactions on the blockchain and produce the digital asset. It uses lots of energy, though, so mining companies are now looking for clean energy to produce the asset. 

Petro, a frontrunner for Colombia’s presidential election next year, added via Twitter that “virtual currency is pure information and therefore energy.”

El Salvador President Submits Bill to Recognize Bitcoin as Legal Tender

It wasn’t clear what Petro meant but Latin America energy policy analyst Wesley Tomaselli told Decrypt that the senator was referring to the potential of Colombia’s Pacific coast to use renewable energy. 

“He's right in that Colombia has great potential for Bitcoin mining because about three fourths of its electricity generation comes from hydroelectric power,” he said. “The problem is, Petro appears to be selling Bitcoin mining as an alternative model for development to coca growing and cocaine shipments. It's not. Unless Petro has a magic wand.”

Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, according to the United Nations, and its Pacific coast is where a lot of the coca—the drug’s base ingredient—is grown. 

The Pacific coast is also a potential renewable energy hotspot. “Colombia's severe Andean mountain geography and river systems make it prime for hydroelectric power generation,” noted Tomaselli. 

But he added that megaprojects in the area “have grown less popular here because of resistance from environmentalists who see them as damaging to local communities and ecosystems.” 

3 million salvadorans are already using @chivowallet.#Bitcoin

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) October 3, 2021

Petro’s communication team did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Jehudi Castro Sierra, who advises Colombia’s government on blockchain technology, said on Twitter that Petro’s idea was “absurd.” 

#Bitcoin es justamente lo contrario a su idea absurda de imprimir. Hay que leer.

— JCS (@JCastroS) October 4, 2021

El Salvador’s government has said that it will use only renewable and clean energy to produce the currency, an idea that has been both praised by Bitcoin believers and slammed by the Bukele’s critics. 

Could Colombia be next?