Texan bitcoiners start mining in Argentina, where peso is in freefall
Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh at the first unit they built in east Texas.
Matt Lohstroh
The Argentine province of Mendoza is famous for its vineyards and full-bodied Malbecs. But the popular wine region in the foothills of the Andes mountains is also home to the world’s second-largest shale gas reserve called Vaca Muerta, which translates to “dead cow.”
For two Texas-based bitcoin miners, the oil deposit offers a dream resource: wasted energy.
Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh, both graduates of Texas A&M University, have been mining bitcoin on the oil fields of East Texas since 2019. That’s when they founded Giga Energy with the goal of taking flared natural gas and turning it into electricity to run bitcoin mines, which are notoriously power-thirsty.
On Tuesday, Giga announced its first foray into Argentina, following expansion across the U.S. and into Shanghai. The company is partnering with Phoenix Global Resources, an oil and gas company with operations in Mendoza, and with IT services company Exa Tech to launch a two megawatt bitcoin mine on top of Vaca Muerta.
Giga’s system involves placing a shipping container full of thousands of bitcoin miners on an oil well, then diverting the natural gas into generators, which convert the gas into electricity that’s used to power the miners. The process reduces CO2-equivalent emissions by about 63% compared to continued flaring — or burning — of unused gas, according to research from Denver-based Crusoe Energy Systems. It also turns wasted energy into a valuable asset for oil producers.
“By capturing stranded natural gas to power modular data centers for energy-intensive computing, Giga is actively contributing to reducing global methane emissions,” Whitehead told CNBC in an interview. Whitehead comes from a long line of “wildcats,” a term used to describe those who engage in high-risk exploratory drilling.
On the small pilot site in Argentina, Exa Tech is handling operations on the ground, Phoenix Global is providing the gas and Giga is supplying the equipment.
Bitcoin mining operation in the prolific Argentinian oil patch.
ExaTech
Bitcoin mining is particularly lucrative whenever there’s a bull market in the cryptocurrency, making current market conditions particularly ripe for a buildout. Bitcoin has soared 170% in the past six months, touching multiple all-time price highs of late, a rally sparked in part by optimism surrounding the launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S.
The boom has helped buoy the share prices of publicly traded bitcoin miners. Riot Platforms more than quadrupled in value last year. CleanSpark jumped more than fivefold in 2023 and is up another 112% this year. Cipher Mining soared over 600% last year and has gained 27% in 2024.
Lohstroh told CNBC that Giga has generated over $10 million in revenue so far this quarter. It’s not the only miner that sees opportunity in Argentina, which ranks 12th on the list of the top global emitters of methane, according to World Bank data.
Crusoe, which helps oil companies like ExxonMobil convert flare gas into a useful resource, helped launch a bitcoin mine at Vaca Muerta in June, as part of an ongoing effort to reduce the energy waste and environmental impacts of natural gas flaring.
Giga’s mine is intentionally small to start and isn’t intended to be profitable yet. The company first wants to make sure it can successfully import all the necessary equipment before scaling the operation. The mine has been running a test since December, and Lohstroh estimates the site has mined in the range of $200,000 to $250,000 worth of bitcoin.
Giga projects the mine is set to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 180,000 tons per year at the upstream facility. The site is also designed to sell any excess power to the Argentina grid as a way to both generate revenue and curb operational redundancies.
Bitcoin mining operation in the prolific Argentinian oil patch.
ExaTech
Crypto is popular in Argentina
It helps that bitcoin isn’t a hard sell in a country whose residents have long faced economic instability and wild currency fluctuations.
The government’s official figures show that annual inflation hit 211% in 2023, the highest in 32 years, further eroding the country’s purchasing power. Today, 2 in 5 Argentines live in poverty.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of ethereum, previously told CNBC that crypto has far greater use cases in Argentina than in many other parts of the world, noting that he found coffee shops that accepted bitcoin and ether.
″When I visited Argentina back at the end of 2021, lots of people used crypto, lots of people loved crypto,” Buterin sad. “I literally got recognized on the streets of Buenos Aires more often than I got recognized in San Francisco.”
Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, said at the World Economic Forum in January that “shock therapy” is the only way to address the profound crisis facing his country. One tactic involved devaluing the national currency by 50% in an effort to curb inflation. Milei, who took over as president in December, has embraced bitcoin and has proposed dollarizing the economy, as well as abolishing the central bank and privatizing the pension system.
“We started this before Milei went into office,” Lohstroh said. “I think it’s pretty interesting that in lockstep, in stride, we’re turning this equipment online in the region, as it’s becoming dollarized and becoming more stable and giving real investment dollars into the economy.”
Federico Brom, Exa Tech’s director of business development, says Argentina has “basically banned imports” as a way to protect its currency. That could be a headwind for scaling the bitcoin mining business.
Still, Brom said he’s seen “a lot of support, a lot of hype and a lot of interest” in what they’re offering.
Tesla posted larger-than-average ATP (average transaction price) increases month-over-month in April, but its prices were lower year-over-year, reports Kelley Blue Book.
April saw Tesla post a month-over-month ATP increase of 5.7% compared to March, but the EV giant’s prices were lower year-over-year by 3.3%, according to EV transaction price data from Kelley Blue Book’s newly released April Average Transaction Price report.
Tesla prices have been a key driver of volatile price dynamics in both the luxury and EV markets because it’s the highest-volume seller in both segments. Tesla prices plummeted from $62,269 in January 2023 to $50,099 in December 2023, a decline of 19.5%.
EV transaction prices in April were essentially flat compared to March – up roughly 0.1% – at $55,252, an increase of only $75 from the prior month. Year-over-year, the average transaction price for an EV was down 8.5%, thanks in part to price pressure on EVs driven by slowing sales, healthy inventory, and more competition.
EV incentive packages remain well above the industry average, in many cases more than 15-20% of the average transaction price.
Some popular EVs posted significant year-over-year price reductions in April – Ford F-150 Lightning’s transaction prices were down 23%, Ford Mustang Mach-e’s were down 15%, Tesla Model Ys were down 12%, and Hyundai Ioniq 6s were down 10%.
However, most EVs presently transact for prices lower than a year ago by approximately 4-5%.
Read more: Higher Tesla Model 3 prices bumped up EV prices overall in March
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A new electrified pickup is hitting the global market. China’s BYD introduced its new Shark plug-in hybrid (PHEV) pickup in Mexico this week. The new BYD Shark is poised to compete against top-selling trucks globally, like the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger.
BYD confirmed its first electrified pickup will be called the Shark last month after years of speculation.
The pickup was spotted for the first time by CarNewsChina at BYD’s facility in November 2022, and the anticipation has been building ever since. We’ve seen leaked patents giving away the design, prototype testing, and more, but the Shark is finally officially here.
BYD introduced the Shark PHEV pickup in Mexico at an overnight launch event. The hybrid pickup will be available in two variants: the GL and GS.
The base GL starts at 899,980 pesos ($53,400), while the GS costs 969,800 pesos ($58,100). Based on BYD’s DMO platform, the Shark features 170 kW (228 hp) front and 150 kW (201 hp) rear motors.
With 429 combined hp, the hybrid truck can sprint from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in 5.7 seconds. Powered by a 29.58 kWh BYD Blade battery, the Shark has all-electric NEDC range of 100 km (62 mi). Combined NEDC range is 840 km (522 mi).
Meet BYD’s first pickup, the Shark plug-in hybrid
According to BYD, the Shark has low charge fuel consumption of 7.5 L per 100 km, which is 40% lower than that of full gas-powered engine pickups.
At 5,457 mm long, 1,971 mm wide, and 1,925 mm tall, the BYD Shark will directly rival top-selling trucks like the Toyota Hilux (5,325 mm long X 1,855 mm wide X 1,815 mm tall) and Ford Ranger (5,370 mm long X 1,918 mm wide X 1,884 mm tall).
BYD’s new pickup has up to 5,512 lbs (2,500 kg) towing capacity and 1,841 lbs (835 kg) max payload.
Inside, you can see other BYD design features, such as a rotatable 12.8″ center screen and 10.25″ instrument panel.
BYD America CEO Stella Li confirmed the company has no plans to sell the Shark, or any passenger EV (BYD already sells electric buses in the US), in the US. Meanwhile, BYD does plan to take the Shark globally.
A right-hand drive prototype was spotted testing in Australia earlier this year, suggesting it could launch there soon. Other global markets will likely include Thailand, South Africa, and parts of Europe. Stay tuned for more info on the BYD Shark as it hits new markets.
Source: CnEVPost, BYD
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An Oakland, California, school district is the first in the US to transition to a 100% electric school bus system with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.
Modern student transportation platform Zum has provided Oakland Unified School District with a fleet of 74 electric school buses and bidirectional chargers. Utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) supplied 2.7 megawatts (MW) of load to Zum’s Oakland EV-ready facility. The fleet will be managed through Zum’s AI-enabled technology platform.
“Oakland becoming the first in the nation to have a 100% electric school bus fleet is a huge win for the Oakland community and the nation as a whole,” said Kim Raney, executive director of transportation at Oakland Unified School District. “The families of Oakland are disproportionately disadvantaged and affected by high rates of asthma and exposure to air pollution from diesel fuels.”
The 100% electric school bus fleet is not only emissions-free but also plays a critical dual role as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), giving 2.1 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy back to the power grid at scale annually. Here’s how it works:
Student transportation is the largest mass transit system in the United States, moving 27 million students twice daily. Today, over 90% of the US’s 500,000 school buses run on carbon-based fuels, releasing over 8.4 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.
Zum, which already has a presence in 14 states, says its next step is to electrify the school bus fleets of San Francisco Unified and Los Angeles Unified school districts, which have fleets three and six times the size of Zum’s Oakland fleet, respectively.
Read more: EPA announces $1B in grants for electric school buses and heavy-duty vehicles
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