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Alberta, a province in western Canada famous for its oil, is aiming to become an international center for cryptocurrency mining as it seeks to diversify its economy. The Minister of Labour, Economy and Innovation of Alberta invited cryptocurrency miners to place their facilities there.
Alberta is on track to host all aspects of the crypto world, including digital token mining and data centers, according to Baystreet. “This is an area of huge disruption, and we want to make sure we're there in that market,” said Doug Schweitzer, Alberta's Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, in an interview with BNN.
Several cryptocurrency firms have already set up bases in Alberta, including Blockchain Guru, Terraform, and Bitcoin Well. Schweitzer has been bragging about the province's abundance of natural gas, its private-sector-driven electricity market, and environmental offsetting loans that position Alberta for the energy-intensive cryptocurrency industry.
The province is positioning itself as a technology hub to diversify its economy and become less dependent on the volatile oil and gas sector, especially as the world moves away from fossil fuels. Economic diversification became a focus of the Alberta government after the 2014 oil price crash, but it has intensified in recent years. To help attract crypto companies, the province is working to attract a growing number of technology workers.
Minister Schweitzer said that the creation of the cryptocurrency industry in the province will benefit Alberta's economy in the future. “When you take a look at the whole decentralized finance space, crypto, you know, this area is not going away. We know what's going to be here long term,” he said.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
