Cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive process as the machines used to confirm transactions and generate new blocks consume 69 TWh annually, according to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index (BECI). This exceeds the annual consumption of the Czech Republic and is half of what the Netherlands uses. While the real damage to the environment is hard to calculate, the blockchain community is facing criticism for its growing electricity costs and potential carbon footprint.

Swiss Alps Energy (SAE) has come up with the idea to integrate thousands of unused premises in the Swiss Alps for the purpose of mining to reduce the cost of the process and make it more eco-friendly. The company has developed a sophisticated modular system – the Swiss Alps Mining (SAM) cubes – to deploy blockchain infrastructure and mining power units in empty buildings across the Swiss Alps. The innovative solution is easy to install as it is constructed from pre-fabricated structures which run automatically and require little maintenance.

By placing the SAM cubes high in the mountains, the company will save energy and make the mining process up to 50% more profitable due to the following factors:

• The boiling point of water is much lower at high altitudes, which renders energy recovery considerably more efficient;
• No need for additional air conditioning systems as low outside temperatures will provide natural cooling for the mining equipment;
• Innovative Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system will recover energy by recycling the heat that is wasted during the mining process.

Apart from mining equipment, SAE offers a range of supporting services for miners. While the SAM cubes are self-contained and operate autonomously, they also communicate with the central management platform that monitors their performance and assigns to each cube the optimal parameter to maximize profit.

The SAM Smart Mining service, samaiX©, is an AI-based proprietary solution that tracks the mining results of users connected to the system and helps to identify the most profitable coins. SamaiX© supplies miners with recommendations and facilitates informed decision-making, but it is up to the user to accept or reject the suggestion.

SAE plans to sell or rent out SAM cubes to individuals and businesses. Customers will be able to operate SAMs remotely in the Swiss Alps or install them elsewhere.

Switzerland has a long history of using hydropower for generating electricity. It is a cheap source of renewable energy that will last for generations to come. SAE plans to create a decentralized power supply system from a network of small hydropower plants. Currently, about 1,400 such plants are up for sale in Switzerland. By buying them, SAE will become a game-changer in the mining industry.

Swiss Alps Mining ICO Details

The private sale was launched in May, while the public crowdsale phase starts in June. SAM tokens will be ERC20-compatible, which can be used as a means of payment within the SAE mining and service universe also being tradable outside the platform on all relevant exchanges.

SAM will be available for purchase with BTC and ETH at the exchange rate of 1 SAM = $0.50 – $0.80 (the rate will rise throughout ICO stages),herewith, according to the project’s whitepaper, the price of BTC and ETH will be adjusted relative to the accurate exchange rate one day before the start of the main token sale. A total of 311’011’901 Sam tokens (100%) will be issued on the Ethereum blockchain, while the target for main token sale is set at $95.000.000.

All the funds raised during the ICO will be used to finance the development and expansion of the mining facilities and to acquire holdings in hydropower plants.

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