Denver startup turns oil well emissions into cryptocurrency, wins millions in VC
A Denver startup is creating cryptocurrency using the natural gas at oil wells, aiming to mint a fortune while eliminating most of the wells’ harmful air-polluting emissions.
Oil companies, which often don’t have a way to sell natural gas from remote wells, reduce flaring of the gas into atmosphere, while the startup, Crusoe Energy Systems, gets free power for mining bitcoin.
It may sound too good to be true, but the company has eight systems running beside wells in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
“We’re mining Bitcoin in the oil field using flare gas today,” said Cully Cavness, president and co-founder of Crusoe Energy Systems Inc. “That’s how we bootstrapped.”