Starcloud wants to mine bitcoin in space — what could go wrong?

As the AI hype train rumbles on, venture capitalists and private equity are pouring more and more money into sillier and sillier ideas.

Recently, Starcloud, a data centers-in-space company, has received nearly half a billion dollars in funding and over a $2 billion valuation for an idea that already seems almost impossible to execute — and it just made it even stupider.

Starcloud has decided to begin mining BTC in space.

Whether you like Bitcoin or hate it, this is crazy. One of the most important aspects of BTC mining has been, and always will be, the ability to obtain the cheapest energy for running miners.

Sometimes this means that mining companies will completely abandon previously profitable locations for new locations, sometimes it will mean replacing every miner they’re currently running, and occasionally it means completely altering the type of energy being utilized (instead of solar, resorting to coal or natural gas, using hydro or wind instead of coal, etc).

Running ASICs in space instantly becomes more expensive than running them on Earth because you have to factor in launch costs, how expensive radiating heat is, an inability to change to an alternative form of energy, and maintenance costs in orbit.