Thank you, Chair and members of the industry committee, for having me here today.
My name is Jaime Leverton, and I am the CEO of Hut 8.
As we begin, I would like to acknowledge, on behalf of Hut 8, that our corporate office is located on the unceded territories of the Anishinabe, Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Mississaugas, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This land, as well as other territories across Turtle Island that Hut 8 operates in, continue to be home to diverse indigenous peoples who we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors to our society.
Hut 8 is one of North America's largest innovation-focused digital asset mining pioneers and high-performance computing infrastructure providers. It is the only dual-listed digital asset miner with 100% Canadian operations. We have the highest unencumbered self-mined inventory of Bitcoin of any digital asset miner or publicly traded company globally. We are also the first Canadian digital asset mining company to list on the Nasdaq.
Hut 8 was named after the building at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, where Alan Turing created the Bombe, a machine that could quickly crack the Enigma code and intercept enemy communications during World War II. Turing's world-changing work in Hut 8 saved countless lives and transformed cryptography as we know it. His advances in code breaking laid the foundation for blockchain technology as it stands today.
I'd like to start by emphasizing the strength of talent we have in this innovative industry, based right here in Canada. Hut 8 is a Canadian success story. We're proud of our roots. Each member of our executive team comes to Hut 8 from other established industries. In fact, our seasoned executive, 40% of whom are female, have a collective century of experience leading businesses in other established Canadian industries.
Hut 8 is the exemplification of the innovation economy. As seasoned leaders we're applying our knowledge and expertise to help drive the growth of Bitcoin adoption and blockchain in Canada and around the globe. We are very much in the nascent stage of understanding the potential of blockchain adoption and the positive effects it promises to have on Canada's economic sectors. However, with a laser focus on regulating, with the end goal of driving innovation, the Canadian government has a generational opportunity to take a leadership role in driving both Canadian and global adoption of blockchain technology. These hearings are a great first step toward achieving that unique position.
We are proud to be taking part in your study and believe that collaborating with industry to achieve our mutual goals is very encouraging. In addition to abundant talent, Canada also has abundant natural resources to support Bitcoin mining, which in turn stabilizes the blockchain. Many miners in Canada harness the country's hydro and nuclear energy sources to power their operations. On our end we use Canada's natural cooling system, our cold winters, to minimize heat and mine much more efficiently than many of our global peers. It's not well understood that Bitcoin mining can also help stabilize energy grids, which is something other large, industrial-scale workloads simply cannot do.
At our Medicine Hat facility, for example, we work with the city to manage energy consumption in real time. If the city needs us to power down to meet residential and industrial demand because of a storm or peak usage, we can do so in less than two minutes, and power back up just as fast, ensuring the most efficient and consistent use of the available energy. We are also proud to be one of the largest taxpayers in the city of Medicine Hat.
While innovation can go a long way to improving environmental goals, so too can bold corporate leadership. Hut 8 is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by the end of 2025. We're proud of this ambitious target that is a shared priority with our government.
As you've heard over the past few meetings, blockchain has a wide range of potential applications that can change how we do things across many industries. Advancements in blockchain technology will happen with or without Canada. While we were disappointed in the defeat of Bill C-249, I'd like to thank the committee for conducting this study and taking recommendations for how to best regulate the space with the goal of growing the sector while protecting consumers.
We hope the future of digital asset regulation in the country works within our current financial system to improve financial inclusion. We're all working with regulatory bodies and authorities, but as a country we need a concrete framework to protect consumers, attract investment, innovate and grow the economy.
Bitcoin and the blockchain represent a new level of both the Internet and the global financial system, one that empowers individual freedom that traditional banking services cannot provide. Like in any industry, bad actors exist, and fraud cases like we are currently seeing with FTX emphasize the need for co-operation between government and business. We've heard a lot about risk and consumer protection in this study. I think it's important to note that while digital assets like Bitcoin have lost significant value in the past nine months, this is not entirely abnormal. Many securities fluctuate in the same way, yet we don't use that rationale to stifle venture capital investments.
The UN has estimated that up to 5% of global GDP, equivalent to $4 trillion U.S., is used for money laundering and illicit activity, which is 400 times more than the criminal activity across all cryptocurrencies.
At Hut 8, we understand very well the cyclical nature of Bitcoin, which is why we have an investment strategy to hold our digital assets. Our business is a long-term play operating on the belief that digital assets like Bitcoin and technologies like blockchain have tremendous growth potential and applicability as the innovation economy takes shape.
Simply put, with the right regulation and a laser focus on driving innovation, Bitcoin and blockchain technology stand to benefit most major industries around the globe. Digital assets should be regulated and treated as personal property. By focusing on the end user, we are able to ensure that we keep the rights and needs of Canadians in mind, which is crucial.
We look forward to submitting our recommendations to this committee on what a future regulatory framework might look like.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.