Energy transition with a difference: Bitcoin mining for warm water

The New York-based “Bathhouse” heats its pools with waste heat from bitcoin mining. At least that’s what the spa claims in one Videos on Instagram. A pilot project has been in existence since 2022, it says on the FAQ page. A solution that is scalable for anyone who needs hot water, whether for a hot bath, the home or building heating applications such as underfloor heating. That is why Bitcoin is driving the energy transition.

ASIC whirring during the relaxation bath

The spa relies on “commercially available ASIC miners” in a classic way. To heat the swimming corners, the fans were removed and replaced with immersion cooling. The ASICs were then immersed in a tank filled with dielectric liquid with a pump and heat exchanger. Instead of using the electricity to heat the pool, the bathhouse channels the electricity into the bitcoin mining facility.

A win-win situation: while the water heats up from the waste heat, you support the Bitcoin network at the same time – and earn satoshis. How much hashrate the spa gets together and how much money Bathhouse has already made with it is unclear. A request from BTC-ECHO has so far remained unanswered.

The eternal debate: Bitcoin, a climate killer?

In addition to many users who welcome the action, there are also others – as was to be expected – who criticize Bitcoin’s energy consumption. As Bathhouse explains, however, the miners are operated in an energy-neutral manner. In other words: the electricity that the spa uses to operate the Mininig system would have had to be bought to heat the pools anyway. The notice states:

We can, so to speak, use this electricity “double”. Once to mine bitcoin and a second time to heat our pools. We can cover a large part of our energy costs by supporting the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoiners also work at Bathhouse, it seems. Because: The mined BTC keeps the spa in self-custody. You don’t want to sell – the rewards earned are long-term savings for the company.

This is how Bitcoin is driving the energy transition

Contrary to the opinion of many critics: Energy-intensive Bitcoin mining has the potential to help shape the energy transition. The thesis: Because mining systems can be switched on and off very flexibly, they are able to act as spontaneous buyers for surplus production. With them, the utilization of energy networks could not only be controlled better, but regenerative energies could become profitable more quickly thanks to the Bitcoin-related cross-financing.

How is this theory put into practice? Read for yourself. In the May issue of the BTC-ECHO magazine, we asked bitcoin miners, a professor and German energy companies about the eternal discussion about the supposed “climate killer”.