Bitcoin (BTC) miners have not exactly had the best of luck recently, as mining of the flagship cryptocurrency had been banned in China by local authorities. As Chinese BTC mining makes up about 75% of the overall Bitcoin mining infrastructure, this understandably led to widespread panic and uncertainty for the entire cryptocurrency industry.

However, there are those who would claim that this entire situation actually benefits Bitcoin in the long run as control of BTC mining can now be more widespread and diversified. Furthermore, the BTC miners situated in North America have now partnered up with oil drillers in an attempt to utilize the excess natural gas being generated and thus be able to mine Bitcoin.

Mobile mining rigs

There have been several reports of BTC miners who have been continuously sending mobile-based mining rigs on various trailers and other similar vehicles in the North Dakota region. This had been done in order to obtain the excess energy that was being produced and then subsequently has it be converted into cryptocurrency in an effective and efficient manner.

Also, since both natural gas as well as oil tend to be from the same source, the gas generated is usually wasted through a process which is known as flaring. Flaring occurs during the extraction of the oil by the drills.

Kirkwood Oil & Gass LLC’s land manager, Steve Degenfelder, had stated that the flaring process is an unfortunate by-product and that it needs to be addressed. He compared the process to ‘money being burnt away. Nevertheless, BTC miners are actually discovering new ways of benefiting from the process and also simultaneously conserving energy that would otherwise have been wasted.

Mining to be taken out of China’s hands?

This new alliance could, as aforementioned, help in removing China from the BTC mining equation and hand over control to someone else, most likely the ones based in North America. Mark Le Dain, the Vice President of Validere Technologies, stated that emissions will be cut at the producer level as well as worldwide through the reduction of mining in those parts of the globe where coal is still utilized as the main power source.

Moreover, the alliance has been formed during the ongoing market crash, which has seen nearly every cryptocurrency drastically reduce in price and value. This had occurred shortly after people of influence, such as Elon Musk, called out crypto mining as being hazardous to the environment.