Tulips grow in the Netherlands thanks to bitcoin

tulips and bitcoins They are associated with financial bubbles, but in a giant greenhouse near Amsterdam, the Dutch found a way to get them to work together.

Engineer Bert de Groot inspects six computer servers in a greenhouse. cryptocurrencies that perform complex calculations to create bitcoinsso they make a lot of noise, but also give off a lot of heat.

This is used to heat the greenhouse where they are grown. tulipsan original technique that allows to reduce the consumption of gas, the price of which has increased significantly since the start of the war in Ukraine.

With a difference of 20°C between the air entering and leaving the machines cryptocurrenciestemperature reaches the ideal level for growing tulips and drying its bulbs.

The servers also benefit from solar panels installed on the roof of the farm’s infrastructure, which reduces their usually very high energy bills.

“Tulip Mania”

Philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who developed the “black swan” theory to describe how an unpredictable event can have big consequences, compared bitcoins with the “tulip mania” of the early 17th century in the Netherlands, which then belonged to the Spanish Empire.

Dutch passion for tulips caused the first stock market crash in modern history, when speculation caused an exponential rise in the value of securities. tulips and then it sank.

The price of a light bulb in the early 17th century was equivalent to 100 times the average annual income of a Dutchman, but plummeted in 1637 when the speculative bubble burst, causing bank failures and massive losses of fortunes. citizens.

Despite the precedent of the crisis tulipsDaniel Koning, 37-year-old florist, does not find this association with bitcoins.

“We believe that in this way we can heat our greenhouse and also produce bitcoins. It’s a win-win situation,” Koning says.

Nearly four centuries after the crisis tulips, Netherlands It is currently the world’s largest producer of these flowers.

“Let’s save the environment”

The Dutch, whose country is partly below sea level, are aware of the environmental impact tulipswhich must be grown in greenhouses and require a lot of energy.

His electricity bills skyrocketed after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and since then several Dutch tulip growers have gone bankrupt.

A similar situation occurs with servers. cryptocurrencieswhich require large amounts of electricity to operate.

This is a sector that not only contributes to climate change, but has also lost profitability due to the current energy crisis.

This increases the loss of value bitcoinswhich has grown from $65,000 at the end of 2021 to $16,000 today.

For this reason, De Groot, 35, sees the union of tulip production with bitcoin production as a beneficial union.

This engineer founded this type of company at the beginning of the year and now has 17 clients, including restaurants and shops.

“This initiative is carbon negative, like everything I promote,” says this long-haired engineer.

“In fact, we are saving the environment,” he adds. (AFP)

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