How a Jack Dorsey-backed bitcoin miner uses a volcano in Kenya to turn on the lights in rural homes

HELL’S GATE, Kenya — Two-and-a-half hours northwest of Nairobi by car, a small group of bitcoin miners set up shop at the site of an extinct volcano near Hell’s Gate National Park.

The mine, tucked away on the edge of Lake Naivasha, is operated by a startup called Gridless and consists of a single 500-kilowatt mobile container that, from the outside, looks like a small residential trailer.

Backed by Jack Dorsey’s Block, Gridless electrifies…