According to CoinDesk, Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile, one of the largest U.S. telcos, is planning to venture into Bitcoin mining. The announcement was made by Dirk Röder, Head of web3 infrastructure and solutions of T-Mobile's Telekom MMS, during the BTC Prague conference. Röder confirmed that the company will soon engage in 'digital monetary photosynthesis', a term he used to describe Bitcoin mining.
The news comes amidst a tumultuous period for the mining sector, which has seen a bull market in 2021, a subsequent crypto winter, and a halving event that reduced Bitcoin rewards by half. While Röder did not provide specifics about the company's mining plans, the entry of such a large corporation into the sector could have both positive and potentially negative impacts on the industry.
Deutsche Telekom has been actively involved in the digital assets sector for several years, running validators on networks such as Polygon, Q, Flow, Celo, Chainlink, and Ethereum. The company also launched the Energy Web Chain last year, which it described as the world's first public blockchain designed specifically for the energy sector, aimed at creating a more decentralized, digitalized, and decarbonized energy system.
Röder also revealed that his company has been running a Bitcoin node and Lightning nodes since 2023. The company's entry into Bitcoin mining has been seen as a positive development by the Bitcoin mining community, given T-Mobile's market cap of over $200 billion. However, it also raises questions about the potential increase in competition for existing miners.
T-Mobile's journey into Web3 has not been without controversy. The company has faced several lawsuits after customers of T-Mobile and its competitor AT&T fell victim to 'SIM swapping' attacks.