Paraguay's national electricity administration signed a memorandum with Morphware to repurpose thousands of confiscated ASIC miners into state revenue sources.

Agreement and assets

Around 30 000 devices are currently held in government warehouses after raids on illegal mining operations, the administration said.

Under the memorandum, a pilot stage will deploy 1 500 devices at existing substations to make use of surplus hydropower from the Itaipu dam.

• Pilot will operate 1 500 miners using existing electrical infrastructure and grid connections.
• Morphware will act as operator and technical consultant during the pilot phase.
• Paraguay retains full control over the physical infrastructure and any assets produced by the operation.

AI integration and hardware concerns

Kenso Trabing, chief executive of Morphware, said the infrastructure will be adapted for artificial intelligence tasks and global compute markets.

Experts note that many confiscated miners lag current generations by several iterations, which could limit efficiency and competitiveness in large-scale operations.

Policy rationale and outlook

Authorities frame the project as an opportunity to monetize excess renewable electricity that previously left the country at low prices or remained unused.

The government has mentioned the possibility of forming a national bitcoin reserve, citing precedents in El Salvador and Bhutan as reference points.

Itaipu is one of the world’s largest hydroelectric facilities, and officials hope that capturing surplus generation will yield additional fiscal value.

The ministry and Morphware did not disclose a timeline for scaling operations beyond the pilot phase.