Starcloud to Launch ASIC Miners Into Orbit for Bitcoin Mining in Space

Bitcoin Mining Goes Orbital

Nvidia-backed startup Starcloud has announced plans to launch a satellite equipped with ASIC miners into orbit before the end of the year, marking what could become the first commercial bitcoin mining operation in space. The announcement came from CEO Philip Johnston.

«The cat is out of the bag: @Starcloud_-2 will be the first to mine Bitcoin in space. This will be a massive industry in itself. Right now, bitcoin mining consumes about 20 GW of power continuously. It makes no sense to do this on Earth, and in the end state, all of this…» — Philip Johnston (@PhilipJohnston), original post

Johnston described bitcoin mining as one of the most promising applications of space-based computing. He highlighted the cost advantage of ASIC chips, noting they are roughly 30 times cheaper than GPUs: a kilowatt of B200 chip capacity can cost $30,000, while the equivalent ASIC figure is only about $1,000.

Why This Matters

The Starcloud CEO called orbital mining a "business of the future," driven primarily by one factor — access to virtually unlimited, free solar energy. According to Johnston, global bitcoin mining continuously consumes approximately 20 GW of power. Continuing these operations exclusively on Earth, he argued, makes no sense — eventually, all of it should move to orbit.

This approach could eliminate the biggest cost bottleneck in terrestrial mining: electricity. Energy expenses represent a major share of operational costs for miners. If the technology scales successfully, it has the potential to fundamentally reshape the economics of cryptocurrency mining.

From Data Centers to Mining Rigs in Space

Founded in 2024, Starcloud specializes in building space-based data centers. In November 2025, the company achieved a significant milestone by sending its Starcloud-1 satellite into orbit carrying an Nvidia H100 chip.

«Thanks @YCombinator for documenting @Starcloud_Inc1's journey to launching the first @Nvidia H100 in space 🙏 Check it out below!» — Starcloud (@Starcloud_), original post

In early February 2026, the company filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy a constellation of 88,000 solar-powered satellites designed for orbital data centers. A portion of this infrastructure is earmarked for cryptocurrency mining operations.

The execution of these ambitious plans hinges on SpaceX and the expected March launch of the heavy-lift Starship rocket.

Competitors and Broader Context

Starcloud is not alone in pursuing space-based bitcoin mining. Another startup, Intercosmic Energy, is also developing the concept. According to its website, the project aims to launch satellites that would serve as a decentralized issuance center for bitcoin. However, Intercosmic Energy has yet to execute any of its stated plans.

Space is increasingly becoming a frontier for compute-heavy operations. In late January 2026, Alibaba Cloud launched its Qwen-3 AI model into space, underscoring the growing trend of moving resource-intensive processing beyond Earth's surface.