Italian mining company Alps Blockchain, together with local partner Qurubiqa, has launched a bitcoin mining site in Bolivia’s Cochabamba department. The project uses infrastructure from an idle gas-fired thermal power plant and operates through a direct power setup: mining equipment is located next to generation and consumes electricity without sending it through the public grid.

The site currently uses about 27 MW of deployed power and delivers 1.23 EH/s of hashrate. According to Alps Blockchain, the facility can be expanded to 127 MW under existing contracts. This model allows otherwise unused energy capacity to be monetized while limiting pressure on the broader electricity system, since the mining load is tied directly to generation.

The project’s dollar-denominated structure also matters for Bolivia. The country has been dealing with a shortage of foreign-currency liquidity and fuel-market stress, while state energy company YPFB previously received approval to use crypto for energy-import payments.

Bolivia’s digital-asset activity has accelerated since the country lifted its crypto ban in June 2024. Reuters reported that virtual-asset transaction volume rose by more than 530% in the first half of 2025, from $46.5 million to $294 million. The new mining project shows how Bolivia is trying to turn stranded energy and currency constraints into a source of dollar-linked revenue.