Winklevoss Capital invests in a company that wants to use excess natural gas to power cryptomining

Crusoe Energy Systems Inc. has raised $4.5 million in seed round funding led by Bain Capital Ventures and Founders Fund Pathfinder, the company announced in a press release. The company’s investors include Winklevoss Capital Management. 

Crusoe provides flare mitigation services and is developing mobile modular data centres that can be used for cryptocurrency mining. This can help oil and gas producers to eliminate gas flaring, thus reducing harmful emissions. Currently, in shale mining, gas is a by-product of oil drilling, and its supply is too large. By reducing flaring, the process helps reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide by as much as 99 per cent.

Crusoe will transform excess natural gas into electrical power and set up small data centres near wellsites to mine cryptocurrencies. 

“We are committed to building advanced technologies for flare mitigation that are capable of handling the large-scale gas throughputs required by today’s North American shale industry," said Crusoe's co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller. "Crusoe’s technology harnesses otherwise wasted energy for growing industries that require energy-intensive computing, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.”