Bolivia’s Bitcoin mining pivots to sustainable model by reviving idle power plant

Bolivia built its Bitcoin mining boom on a foundation of cheap, subsidized natural gas. That foundation is cracking, and the country is scrambling to replace it with something sturdier.

Alps Blockchain, an Italian mining company, is partnering with local firm Qurubiqa to breathe life into a 127 MW thermal power plant in Cochabamba that has been sitting idle. The operation currently runs 27 MW of capacity, producing a hashrate of 1.23 EH/s. The plan is to scale to the plant’s full 127 MW potential, backed by government contracts that include tax exemptions.

From subsidies to stranded energy

Bolivia’s hashrate exploded by more than 2,400% year-over-year through Q2 2026. Domestic natural gas prices were subsidized down to $1.30 per MMBTU, compared to market rates that typically range between $8 and $12. As Bolivia’s government began pulling back on those artificially low rates, the economics that attracted miners in the first place started to evaporate.

The Cochabamba thermal plant represents a stranded asset — a functional piece of infrastructure sitting dormant because the economics didn’t justify turning it on. Alps Blockchain’s model uses on-site auto-consumption to convert that stranded energy directly into Bitcoin mining revenue.

The dollar play

Payments for the mining operation are denominated in US dollars. Bolivia has been grappling with a fiscal crisis that has eroded confidence in the boliviano and created genuine dollar liquidity concerns. By structuring mining revenues in USD, Alps Blockchain effectively sidesteps the currency instability that has plagued other sectors of the Bolivian economy.

Bolivia’s newly elected right-leaning government has been vocal about prioritizing foreign capital inflows. The Alps Blockchain arrangement fits into that agenda, offering a template for how cryptocurrency mining can serve as a vehicle for dollarization without formally dollarizing.

What this means for investors

If Alps Blockchain can successfully scale from 27 MW to the full 127 MW capacity, the operation would represent a meaningful addition to global hashrate. At current efficiency ratios, scaling nearly fivefold from 1.23 EH/s would put the single site in the same conversation as mid-tier publicly traded miners.

The risk calculus is real. Bolivia’s track record with foreign energy companies, particularly in the nationalization era of the mid-2000s, gives reasonable pause. Tax exemptions granted by one administration can be revoked by the next.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.