Mining farm in China: a detailed overview of the largest cryptocurrency in terms of mining. The largest mining farm in China - photos and videos
The most famous mining farms for bitcoin production all over the world. Today we will learn about the largest and most famous farms, which amaze with their scope.
This is more of an informational article, but it is also useful for understanding the whole meaning and scale of making money on Bitcoins.
Bitcoin mining- this is the very first cryptocurrency that began to be mined, more about this in the article: . But today mining consists of entire factories and they produce not only the well-known bitcoins, but also many other currencies. Previously, it was possible to mine coins on a simple home computer, but gradually the complexity is increasing, there are more and more people wanting to do it, and the equipment is becoming more and more expensive.
If this is the first time you have heard about this, then read the article: well, we move on.
What is a mining farm and how does it work?
Farms perform calculations using computer power (most often using video cards), thus producing new coins. How this happens is described in the article. A total of 3600 BTC is allocated for mining per day. Each user who participates in mining receives an equal share of its power. This is the example of Bitcoin; other cryptocurrencies are mined using similar parameters. They differ only in their characteristics (extraction algorithm) and the amount of reward.
It is for this reason that huge cryptocurrency mining farms are being built. Many who stood at the origins have already become millionaires, as the Bitcoin rate has risen to an incredible $7,500, and in some countries reached $9,000.
Before today It’s still profitable to assemble small mining farms at home and they pay for themselves. Even after the release of ASICs for calculating SHA-256, which is designed specifically for mining. It's kind of turnkey mining farm, which today are issued with an emphasis on a specific currency.
Largest Bitcoin Farm in Hong Kong
Most of the largest farms are concentrated in China (due to cheap electricity) and Iceland (due to the cool climate), but let's start with a farm in Hong Kong. Located eight miles from the city's financial center, in the Kwai Chung district. The farm itself is small in terms of area, but produces a huge amount of power due to modern equipment.
The farm is built in the form of racks on which ASIC chips are located, and it is they that generate the power that mines bitcoins. These chips are designed specifically for mining digital currency, they work extremely quietly, but apart from the task at hand (mining), they can’t do anything else.
Mining farm in Hong Kong called ASICMINER. Many investors have invested in it, including from China.
Hong Kong was not chosen by chance; firstly, it is close to the manufacturer (China), and secondly, there are no such problems that began in China in relation to mining. Chinese energy campaigns want to increase the cost of electricity, and as you know, most of the largest mining farms in China were built using cheap electricity.
This large farm uses the most innovative technologies. The bubbling liquid is refrigerant produced by 3M, which cools running ASIC chips.
Due to liquid cooling, this farm began to generate more income compared to traditional solutions building farms. Most often, to reduce heat, radiators and powerful fans, which also consume a lot of electricity.
But radiators are also present in this largest farm in Hong Kong. They are installed on the roof of the building and provide additional heat transfer.
Founder of a mining farm in Hong Kong Chinese company Allied Control, Kar-Wing Lau, its vice president. In one interview, he stated that the cost of electricity for such a farm exceeds fifty thousand dollars.
The largest mining farm in China HaoBTC
China is still the leader among countries where mining on an industrial scale is profitable. According to statistics, more than half of all pools are concentrated in China. Of course, everything can change if there is no agreement on electricity, but for now China is in first place. After all, what remains here is cheap labor and their unpretentiousness, they are ready to work in almost any conditions and, of course, the availability of equipment, since China is the main supplier.
One of the largest Bitcoin mining farms is the Chinese HaoBTC campaign.. The American press NYTimes published an interview with the founders of the campaign and, of course, with photographs of the farm itself.
Everything here does not look as modern as on the Hong Kong farm, but nevertheless, the farm produces a hashrate of 4.7 PH. What does the farm look like from the inside? You can watch this video from one of the secret bitcoin farms in China:
The largest mining farm in Russia
There are quite a few large cryptocurrency mining farms; you can write about each of them individually on a whole page or more. But they are all based on the same principle and therefore we have touched upon only a few. But they couldn’t bypass the largest mining farm in Russia, because you can understand that this is real for our lives. Watch a video about the largest farm in Russia. How it was created, how much energy it consumes and how many bitcoins it brings in per month
There are about 3 thousand Antmainer S9 machines installed on the farm; their power reaches 38 PH/S. There are only 4 specialists to maintain the farm. At the beginning of 2017, the farm’s income was 600 bitcoin coins per month, now perhaps a little less coins are mined, but the cost of bitcoin has more than doubled.
The farm is equipped with all modern technologies: cooling, protection against short circuit, security and fire alarms.
This week, China stepped up its efforts against Bitcoin miners, issuing a notice calling on government task forces to “actively target” Bitcoin mining operations.
The Wall Street Journal report said the notice calls for an "orderly exit" and makes no mention of a deadline. It also mentions that Bitcoin mining “consumes enormous amounts of electricity and also encourages a spirit of speculation with ‘virtual currencies’.” The notice also characterizes it as an activity that “departs from the needs of the real economy.”
Government officials in China have been asked to use tough policies to crack down on cryptocurrencies. This means that they will introduce and promulgate special regulations to limit various aspects of Bitcoin mining, including electricity consumption, land use, tax collection and environmental regulation.
China's importance to the Bitcoin mining ecosystem
China's supplies of abundant hydropower and cheap coal have helped energy companies streamline their operations during the shutdown.
Some argue that the centralization of Bitcoin mining in the country has led to the development of an efficient Bitcoin hashate. In turn, this has helped maintain a constant supply of Bitcoin and ensure profitability for miners despite rising costs and fees.
Will this affect Bitcoin mining operations?
Of course, China’s announcement of the fight against Bitcoin is not a bolt from the blue, but quite natural phenomenon. However, several prominent mining communities have already left the country. For example, Bitmain, the world's largest pool, has already organized mining in Inner Mongolia. Others move to colder climates, to countries such as Iceland.
According to the latest analytics, in Chinese politics. News of active actions against it in the country has already slightly reduced the price of Bitcoin at auction. It lost value and fell 1.2% in London to $13,580.50, according to Bloomberg. However, since the Chinese government has not specified a deadline, it is likely that the price will not experience radically volatile volatility for now.
China has launched an offensive against cryptocurrency and altcoin trading platforms
Tightening regulation of online platforms and mobile applications.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Chinese regulators are taking a closer look at internet platforms and mobile applications that provide exchange services to clients. Last year, Chinese authorities banned trading in cryptocurrencies, but Lately The country is looking further and further. Chinese regulators want to completely block people’s access to offshore and domestic platforms that allow the use of cryptocurrency trading. The sources, however, were unable to provide more details on the types of policies that will be used in China.
The government is also targeting companies and individuals that enable cryptocurrency trading by providing services such as market making, settlement and clearing. Small peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions are not yet on the Chinese government's radar.
By prohibiting exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Last week, the state went against the most massive industry in the country. According to documents reviewed by The Financial Times, the Inter-Agency Task Force ordered regional authorities in their regions to “actively guide” firms in suspending their Bitcoin mining activities.
Analysts attribute the government's struggle and attacks to the fact that mining requires incredible use large quantity energy. According to BNEF, as of 2017, the demand for electricity for bitcoin mining has grown to 20.5 terawatt-hours per year. This is equivalent to more than half the 38 terawatt-hours of energy consumed annually by the world's largest miner, BHP Billiton Ltd.
IN rural areas In Liaoning Province in northeast China, a bitcoin farm is located on the second floor of a former factory building, which was visited by representatives of Vice magazine under the condition of not disclosing the location. This is just one of six venues owned by the group from four people. In total, as of October last year, they had a computer power of 8 petahashes per second. This is 3 percent of the entire Bitcoin network.
Farm workers work and live in the same noisy and uninviting premises, spending only four to five days a month at home. But the job allows for distractions like video games or audiobooks, and the farm owners pay well. In summer, the temperature inside jumps to 40 degrees, and the noise does not stop day or night. industrial systems ventilation systems that maintain a constant temperature for three thousand ASIC miners. These are computing devices with chips created specifically for specific tasks and are almost completely useless for solving others. Unfortunately, the models are not named - Vice journalists have pledged not to disclose either data on the technical components of the farm or information about equipment suppliers. But it is mentioned that they used Avalon before, and the current machines are faster and consume less electricity.
At the time of the visit, the price of the coin fluctuated around $375. From their six farms, the group of four received 4,050 bit coins per month, which was equivalent to approximately $1.5 million. At the peak, each of the six sites brought in hundreds per day, but the difficulty of mining and income are changing. At the time of the interview, it was possible to make 20-25 coins per day on each of the farms. By the way, the farm shown in the video consumes approximately 1250 kilowatts, and every month a bill comes in for 80 thousand dollars.
The life of miners is quite boring. It is diluted only by attempts to open new sites and replacement of equipment - there are already 900 broken down machines lying in the corner, which are being dismantled for spare parts. The farm owners collected money for equipment together, and they also manage the enterprise together. Vice doesn't indicate how the fall in Bitcoin's value affected the business, but the effect was likely profoundly negative. Surely the owners were ready for such a development. Jin Xin states that cryptocurrencies are the future, but admits that the technology is still in a very early stage of development, and because of this its value is subject to fluctuations. In an interview, Xin said that he keeps half of his own savings in Bitcoin.
Mining is a method of issuing cryptocurrency. It looks like the process of working on a crypto problem, the solution of which is rewarded by a distributed network. For Bitcoin, the reward size is currently 25 coins. Every 2016 blocks, the network adjusts the difficulty of the process, trying to keep the frequency of coin distribution at the same level. The power of Bitcoin miners even at early stages development quickly exceeded the computing power of the world's most powerful supercomputers. Today, megawatts of energy are spent on this process. The economic feasibility of mining is determined by the exchange rate, the cost of electricity and equipment - these are expensive specialized devices or video cards, if we are talking about Litecoin. Today, many are wondering who is hiding behind the mask of Bitcoin author Satoshi Nakamoto, but in reality the network is largely controlled by miners.
In China you can already buy anything with bitcoins, goods and services. As a last resort, there is a service for transferring cryptocurrencies to any other non-crypto currency to any account, using the best rate, and not like with real money (running around banks/exchangers). Therefore, their interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum (and any more or less valuable crypto money) is very serious. So they are not afraid to invest millions of dollars in huge farms.
Video: Chinese mining farm
In general, if you don’t understand or don’t want to understand, don’t bother yourself, the Bitcoin network will still grow, with or without you. Blockchain is here to stay. At least as a technology. And people who are far from Bitcoin will not need to know how it works, they just use plastic like today, but that will happen later.
And about these Chinese. They simply support the virtual currency by donating the power of their computers to operate this currency, and the virtual currency pays them bitcoins for this, for providing the services of its existence. Since this currency is not stored on a separate PC, but on every computer in the world who uses it. Therefore, they cannot ban it or eliminate it.
China is one of the world leaders in Bitcoin mining. The world's most populous country is considered the driving force behind the major cryptocurrency. As of 2017, 80 percent of all trading is in the yuan. In addition, China is the main center of global mining for popular coins. The country has cheap electricity, which provokes local entrepreneurs to create huge farms. According to independent statistics, more than 60 percent of Bitcoin is mined by miners from the Middle Kingdom.
The largest mining farm in China
The largest farms in China are located at great distances from the country's capital and large regions. Here, electricity costs pennies, and the farm can be located in a vacant lot far from residential areas. One of the largest farms lies in the city of Ordos. This place is considered an autonomous region of China. The city has a huge number of empty buildings, but at the same time very cheap electricity and high unemployment, which promises inexpensive labor for farms.
Ordos is considered the unofficial capital of mining. Every third city resident works in cryptocurrency mining. The largest farm is located in the southeast of the city. At first glance, it resembles a huge warehouse. Ten one-story buildings 200 meters long. Each of them houses three thousand devices. In total, they all make up five percent of the total global power of the Bitcoin network.
In addition to Bitcoin, some altcoins are mined here. In Ordos, they relied on the mining of litecoins, one of the promising cryptocurrencies.
More than 100 people work on the farm. They live in the same place - in a three-story office in very modest conditions. Mostly young people between 20 and 25 years old work on such farms.
Cryptocurrency mining devices on the largest farm in the world
In addition to ordinary workers, operators work on the farm. Their tasks include:
- Monitor the status of devices;
- Promptly troubleshoot problems;
- Calculate electricity;
- Maintain temperature conditions.
China is one of the most polluted countries. In remote areas this problem is especially acute. There are even so-called Asian dust storms here. Dust rises in the form of dense clouds. The air quality index in Ordos is hazardous to health by all international standards. For video cards, dust is the number one mortal enemy.
To prevent damage to devices on huge farms use dense and high fences. Naturally, despite all efforts, dust seeps into the video cards and causes the devices to overheat. Given that they operate at peak, the slightest change in temperature causes a malfunction.
Farm employees try to maintain the temperature in the building at 25 degrees. This maximum limit for comfortable operation of devices.
Thousands of devices create incessant noise. According to the instructions, all employees are required to wear earplugs, otherwise they may simply become deaf.
How much electricity does the largest mining rig consume?
The cheap price of electricity does not save you from huge electricity bills when mining at such insane volumes. On a farm in Ordos, to reduce costs, they came up with the idea of powering the devices with coal-fired power plants.
