Brazil's largest bank, Itau Unibanco, has made a strategic foray into bitcoin mining. Through its venture capital arm Itau Ventures, the bank invested an undisclosed amount — reportedly up to $10 million — in Minter, a company specializing in mobile data centers and bitcoin mining operations across Brazil.
What Is Minter? Mobile Mining Tackles Energy Curtailment
Minter combines standard bitcoin mining hardware with mobile containers, allowing it to be deployed directly at renewable energy generation sites. This model directly addresses one of the biggest challenges in green energy: curtailment. In 2025, Brazil curtailed 20% of its solar and wind energy output, resulting in $1.2 billion in losses. Minter turns that otherwise wasted electricity into a productive asset by using it for bitcoin mining and high-performance computing.
Itau's Strategic Backing and Expansion Plans
“The Itaú seal helps encourage energy generators to feel comfortable opening their minds to the fact that a flexible data center within the parks can be a portfolio strategy,” said Stefano Sergole, CEO and founder of Minter. Currently serving just one customer, Minter expects to reach 40MW capacity by the end of 2026, and aims to scale to 500MW by 2029. With Itau's backing, the company plans to expand both in Brazil and the United States, where curtailment is also surging — Amperon estimated that U.S. curtailment hit 20 million MWh in 2024 and called the phenomenon “exploding.”
Bitcoin Mining: Turning Stranded Energy Into Digital Gold
Sergole highlighted that “for our flexible model, it has been more profitable to position ourselves in bitcoin mining.” This explains why Minter chose crypto mining as its primary value driver. By deploying mobile data centers inside wind and solar parks, miners access ultra-low-cost power while helping grid operators stabilize supply and demand. Minter is targeting a multi-billion dollar addressable market — the global pool of stranded renewable energy due to grid bottlenecks. Itau's involvement also signals a new trend: traditional financial institutions investing directly in energy + bitcoin infrastructure, beyond mere custody or trading. Meanwhile, energy conglomerate Engie is also exploring bitcoin mining to address solar curtailment in Brazil, indicating the model is gaining mainstream traction.