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Inside BitFury's 20 Megawatt Bitcoin Mine
1sockchuck (826398) writes Bitcoin hardware vendor BitFury has opened a 20-megawatt data center to expand its cloud mining operations. The hashing center in the Republic of Georgia is filled with long rows of racks packed with specialized Bitcoin mining rigs powered by ASICs. It's the latest example of the Bitcoin industry's development of high-density, low-budget mining facilities optimized for rapid changes in hardware and economics. It also illustrates how ASIC makers are now expanding their focus from retail sales to their in-house operations as Bitcoin mining becomes industrialized.
Good thing you're not solving real problems. What. A. Fucking. Waste.
As far as I can judge, and please correct me if I am wrong, running a bitcoin mining farm isn't really something that ties up a lot of your time. I might be a bit naive, but... isn't it just "flip the switch and, well, wait"?
If it's not so, the next question is probably moot, but if it is: Why would anyone SELL bitcoin mining rigs instead of simply building them and getting rich themselves? To me the whole deal smells a bit like those crystal ball experts who tell you next weeks lottery numbers... why, if it works, don't they play themselves and get rich themselves?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
its just the most wasteful thing i can think
You should think harder. Gold fills much the same niche as bitcoins, and results in millions of tons of mine tailings, and mercury contaminated rivers. If bitcoin reduces the demand for gold by even 1%, every kilowatt is worth it.
Wait, what? You do know that the circuit boards and crap that go into the ASIC and computer rigs and the cooling and all uses a lot more natural resources (including gold and the things called "rare earths") than a bit of gold mining right? Ever seen the disposal sites for computers? Lots of tailings and contamination there too. Bitcoin mining is funny. People here love imaginary currency even though they don't like imaginary property. It is imaginary and wasteful. Let's just leave it there.
Modded down for telling the truth. These guys are wasting a small town's worth of power to do worthless calculations.
Play Command HQ online
Considering that bitcoin isn't big enough, nor has it been around long enough to bail out, using the bank bailouts as a comparison is a specious justification.
Just because a new system is different than a bad system, does not logically imply that it is a better system by default.
Fiat currency for all intents and purposes is also imaginary, as the value it holds is not a fundamental property of the bill or coin itself. It just happens to be represented in a physical form.
But that value only exists because the market by and large 'agrees' that this currency has this much purchasing power. See also: every single hyperinflation episode ever.
(Then again some snotty muckraker might point out the fact that the USD is only maintaining its value through perceived military capability,nostalgia, and status as the de facto world currency.. (Which is likely temporary if things continue).
IE, what's more wasteful, some computers in Georgia doing complex math, or propping up a currency/economy with an endless amount of unrecoverable debt, smart bombs, and drones?)
Doing some rough approximations (very rough) bitcoin mining electricity cost is roughly 6.2 times more expensive than mining gold...
Assuming: 0.05$/kWhr,
power cost at 1/4 $ value of bitcoin produced (rough guess based on yield of small scale bitcoin mining rigs I've witnessed),
average gold ore at 2g/tonne,
and average mining electrical consumption of 46.274kwhr/tonne ore (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/oee/pdf/publications/industrial/mining/open-pit/Open-Pit-Mines-1939B-Eng.pdf)
20 megawatts generates $4,000 in bitcoin
$4,000 is equivalent to 5 ounces gold (conservatively at $800/ounce)
5 ounces is 140 grams, and 70 tonnes of ore at 2g/tonne
approximate electrical expense to mine 70 tonnes of ore at 46.274 kwhr/tonne (value from link above) is 3.2 Megawatts... significantly less than bitcoin mining.
Skimming the referenced report, the average energy cost/tonne ore includes mining, crushing/grinding, concentrating. so not counting refining and tailings/water management costs, but even at 1/4 of total electrical costs, bitcoin mining seems comparatively wasteful....
There's likely arguments for fotprints and long term environmental impacts of mining, but bitcoin still seems wastefull.