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Displaced bitcoin miners thwarted by data centre crunch amid China crackdown
- The hunt for space in bitcoin-friendly data centres has become so frenzied that bounties are being offered for referrals to new homes for displaced miners
- China’s crackdown has taken out a vast number of machines in the global network used to perform the calculations that verify transactions and create new bitcoin
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Now is a great time to get into bitcoin mining. That is, if you can find a place to plug in.
A crackdown in China has taken out a vast number of machines in the global network used to perform the calculations that verify transactions and create new bitcoin. Now profitability for these cryptocurrency miners has surged, as the amount of energy needed to solve for a bitcoin block plummets.
That is great if your equipment is already up and running. But the hunt for space in bitcoin-friendly data centres has become so frenzied that bounties are being offered for referrals leading to new homes for stranded cryptocurrency miners.
Christian Kaczmarczyk, a principal at venture capital firm Third Prime, said some Chinese bitcoin miners are willing to pay substantial premiums above the ideal operating rate of less than five US cents per kilowatt-hour.
“People are paying an arm and a leg to find hosting right now,” Kaczmarczyk said. “These miners from China are willing to pay 6, 7, 8, 9 cents to get in the game. They’ll pay whatever.”
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