Wenatchee, a small town in Washington, is emerging as a new home for bitcoin miners. The town is about three hours aways from Seattle. What is it about this rural area causing people to move there and mine cryptocurrency?
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Mining Boom in A Small Town
Wenatchee is home to a dozen of the largest bitcoin miners, becoming something of an epicentre. It appears a steady stream of investors are discovering the town as an optimum place to mine. Steve Wright, the head of the local power utility, says that another 75 have inquired about coming to the town:
We’ve come from just a few people out there who have been knocking on the door to all of a sudden to people who are banging on the door pretty loudly.
Bitcoin mining is known to be energy-consuming. But miners here appear not to have this problem. Power is extremely cheap for the town— only 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt hour.
An early miner in the town, Malachi Salcido, owns three data centers in the area capable of generating 5 to 7 BTC per day. Salcido uses 7.5 megawatts of power and wants to produce 50 BTC per day by July, which would require a whopping 42 megawatts of power. The town of Wenatchee is key in his plans.
Abundant Power to Offer
Power is cheap here due to abundant hydroelectric power through a series of dams on the Columbia River.
Another reason why Wenatchee is a favorite mining town is that it boasts cooler seasons to help keep the servers at the right temperature. The small town also has exceptional internet access. Steve Wright, however, is concerned that speculators might rush into the town to take advantage of everything it offers:
What we don’t want is people who come here to make a quick buck off of our low-cost electricity and then leave town and leave us, and leave the people of this community holding the bag.
What do you think of the mining boom? Will the small town attract more crypto investors? Leave your comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, CNBC.com
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