Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has said that it is considering using nuclear energy to power its data centres as its internal demand for electricity skyrockets.
CoinDesk was the first to report that Kraken is looking at possibly using nuclear power amid a boom in both cryptocurrency trading and rising demand for decentralized finance (DeFi).
Senior executives at Kraken say they’re looking to partner with energy providers in North America and Europe that can supply nuclear power with small modular reactors (SMRs).
The small reactors can be co-located with data centres and provide the electricity Kraken says it needs as demand for its services continues to rise.
Additional demand from artificial intelligence (A.I.) applications and high-performance computing (HPC) is expected to add to the power demands of Kraken moving forward.
Energy consumption has long been an issue in the cryptocurrency sector, particularly among crypto miners who use vast amounts of electricity to mine Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital tokens around the clock.
Kraken isn’t the only company exploring nuclear energy. There have also been media reports that Amazon (AMZN) is looking at nuclear plants to power its data centres.
While nuclear energy comes with some risks, it is generally viewed as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly energy source for crypto firms such as Kraken.
Kraken is privately held and its stock does not trade on an exchange.
