SKN | Nvidia-Backed Starcloud Plans First Bitcoin Mining Operation in Space

Key Points

• Orbital data center startup Starcloud plans to begin mining Bitcoin in space after launching its second spacecraft later this year.
• The company argues that ASIC-based Bitcoin mining is far cheaper to run in orbit compared with GPU-powered AI computing.
• Space-based mining could leverage solar-powered satellite infrastructure, potentially lowering energy costs for crypto mining.

Orbital infrastructure startup Starcloud announced plans to begin mining Bitcoin from space later this year, aiming to become the first company to operate a crypto mining facility outside Earth.

The initiative will begin after the company launches its second spacecraft, according to CEO Philip Johnston.

Johnston said space-based computing could provide a powerful new environment for Bitcoin mining due to the lower relative cost of specialized hardware compared with high-end artificial intelligence chips.

ASIC Mining Seen as Ideal for Space Infrastructure

During an interview discussing the project, Johnston explained that Bitcoin application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners are significantly cheaper to operate than graphics processing units used in AI workloads.

He said that while a high-end AI chip may cost tens of thousands of dollars per kilowatt of computing power, a comparable ASIC miner may cost only about $1,000.

Because Bitcoin mining primarily relies on ASIC hardware rather than expensive GPUs, Johnston believes the technology is well suited for space-based computing systems.

According to him, Bitcoin mining could become a major use case for orbital data centers.

Solar-Powered Satellites Could Power Space Mining

Starcloud was founded in 2024 to build data centers in orbit as a response to the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The company has already launched a satellite equipped with an NVIDIA H100 chip into orbit, marking the first time such a powerful graphics processor has operated in space.

The firm’s long-term vision includes a massive constellation of about 88,000 satellites acting as distributed data centers powered primarily by solar energy.

Johnston argues that moving energy-intensive workloads like Bitcoin mining into orbit could eventually make more economic sense than running them on Earth.

Concepts for Interplanetary Bitcoin Transactions

While mining Bitcoin in space is still experimental, other researchers have explored how cryptocurrency could function across planets.

Entrepreneurs Jose E Puente and Carlos Puente proposed a system that could theoretically transmit Bitcoin transactions between Earth and Mars using satellite relays and optical communication networks.

They suggested that infrastructure such as NASA satellites or Starlink could relay transactions through space in minutes.

However, they noted that mining Bitcoin on Mars would likely be impractical due to the significant communication delays between planets.

Mining Economics Remain Challenging

Even as new concepts emerge, Bitcoin mining profitability has been under pressure in recent months.

The cryptocurrency’s price has fallen significantly from its previous highs, squeezing mining margins across the industry.

At the same time, mining difficulty — which determines how hard it is to produce new blocks — has recently eased slightly, offering temporary relief for miners.

If successful, Starcloud’s orbital mining experiment could open the door to an entirely new frontier for blockchain infrastructure beyond Earth.