Azimut invests in Alps Blockchain: the sustainable culture related to mining
Summary
Azimut, an independent, global group in asset management, wealth management, investment banking and fintech, has promoted a club deal to invest in Alps Blockchain, a leading company in Italy developing the infrastructure behind blockchain.Azimuts 40 million investment came through Azimut Enterprises S.r.l and Azimut Direct Investment Alps Blockchain SCSp.The latter is a dedicated Luxembourg vehicle that enabled some 600 clients served by the Groups network of financial advisors and wealth managers in Italy to take exposure to the growth of the sustainable blockchain sector.The deal includes an equity component, through the purchase of a stake of about 45%, and a bond component with a convertible loan. In addition to the data centers located within Italian hydropower plants and coordinated as a provider, there are also those managed directly and located abroad, both under construction and already operational.In just over four years, Alps Blockchain has experienced exponential growth and now aims to consolidate and implement its business model. To this end, it has developed a solution in Italy aimed at supporting the hydropower sector and providing a new business opportunity for power producers that will help keep incumbent plants profitable once government incentives end.The increase in resources will allow us to participate and contribute more substantially to the functioning of the blockchain network, favoring the development of solid and sustainable projects over time. Thanks to this financial operation, we will be able not only to increase and make our existing data centers more efficient, but also to invest in the construction of new plants, aiming to quadruple the computing power production capacity at the service of this technology by the end of the year.How much power does blockchain consume?As we know, blockchain, which is set to be used more and more extensively in different sectors, from finance to logistics or from healthcare to food, is an energy-intensive technology, as it requires high computing power to validate transactions.According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (Cbeci) the Bitcoin blockchain uses 14 gigawatts of electricity, which corresponds to a total annual electricity consumption of 122 terawatt-hours.It follows that the energy consumption of proof-of-work blockchains is not negligible. Since all blockchains operate similarly, we focus on the main one, namely Bitcoin.The main driver of Bitcoins electricity consumption is the expected profitability of the miners (i.e., their expected revenue minus costs).