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The Bitcoin Boom Reaches a Canadian Ghost Town (bloomberg.com)
Most of the buildings in Ocean Falls that haven't been demolished over the decades are crumbling in place, and Greg Strebel, along with most everyone who once lived there, is long gone. A population that peaked at 5,000 has fallen below 100. But this summer, the mill began to emit a new sound. From a report: It was more of a buzz than a throb, really, but plenty loud to be heard as far away as the ferry dock and the old firehouse. It was the noise of hundreds of tiny fans blowing air past hundreds of tiny computers, keeping them cool while they ran 24 hours a day, creating Bitcoins. The Bitcoin mine has come to Ocean Falls after almost four decades of false starts. The town went dormant once the paper industry left, but it wasn't dead, exactly. The dam that powered the mill was still capable of producing about 13 megawatts of electricity. Some of that went to power Ocean Falls and two nearby towns, Bella Bella and Shearwater. But even in the middle of winter, their residents used less than one-third of the electricity, leaving plenty to support new industrial uses. The dam wasn't connected to the grid, a shortcoming that could also be an advantage in the right hands. Any power-hungry business willing to set up nearby would be well-positioned to negotiate a sweetheart deal.
For most industries, the remoteness of Ocean Falls offsets the benefits of cheap power. It's about 300 miles up the coast from Vancouver, accessible only by boat or seaplane. Strebel's teenage protestations aside, severe weather is a real issue. It's one of the rainier places on the continent, and high winds in the long winter months can hinder travel. And so almost every plan -- for casinos, breweries, marijuana-growing operations and water-bottling plants -- came and went with little tangible impact. At one point, a group of businessmen sought to fill ocean tankers with water from the town and sell it to California or Saudi Arabia. The only substantial business for now is a salmon hatchery. But several years ago, employees at Boralex, the private utility that owns the dam, began getting phone calls from Bitcoin miners, mysterious people untethered from the restraints of businesses producing actual physical goods.
For most industries, the remoteness of Ocean Falls offsets the benefits of cheap power. It's about 300 miles up the coast from Vancouver, accessible only by boat or seaplane. Strebel's teenage protestations aside, severe weather is a real issue. It's one of the rainier places on the continent, and high winds in the long winter months can hinder travel. And so almost every plan -- for casinos, breweries, marijuana-growing operations and water-bottling plants -- came and went with little tangible impact. At one point, a group of businessmen sought to fill ocean tankers with water from the town and sell it to California or Saudi Arabia. The only substantial business for now is a salmon hatchery. But several years ago, employees at Boralex, the private utility that owns the dam, began getting phone calls from Bitcoin miners, mysterious people untethered from the restraints of businesses producing actual physical goods.
Clean, remote, quiet, and good internet access. Hmm.
Alternative Right.
You wanna mine Bitcoins, eh?
This seems like a really, really stupid thing.
Another "cute" bitcoin story.
This is a 21st century pet rock. Something that doesn't make -anyone- better off, but is a drain on resources...
Block-chain based calculations should be another factor in the Drake Equation, as wasting all energy on something like bitcoin would explain civilization's lack of efforts to communicate.
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roll your chair out to your car and leave.
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in the heart for that poor ghost town. Let's hope the people who remain there are smart enough to get paid rents, taxes, and the power bill using real money, not bitcoin.
Canada is like that awkward little brother who has been wanting to play with his older brother's toys for ages and now that his older brother is tired of them, Canada gets to have a go.
Let's see, in Canada we buy used ferries that don't work, surplus naval vessels from the UK, our government bought a decrepit pipeline for $4.5 billion dollars that the same government now won't let us fix or expand.
I applaud these guys as there is something great about finding a small town and rebooting it.
The sad part is that most likely the Canadian government will come in and try to figure out how to own it, or at least profit from it and if not, legiliate it to death and then give it to some large corporation instead.
Oh Canada, Our home and Naive land.
...that it keeps filling the dam with water, which trickles down to the generators, which trickles down to electrons, which trickles down to bitcoin bits pushed around?
This weather is really something to be paid for, to sustain!
Yeah I don't think that's how it g... oooooooh.
#DeleteFacebook
Feign dead like a hunter from WoW.
"The Bitcoin mine has come to Ocean Falls after almost four decades of false starts."
They've been trying to mine Bitcoin for almost four decades? Wow, those Canadians are really a forward-looking bunch. Did they start on an Apple II or something?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
They could have set up a Ski lodge with built-in GPU miners for free heat. Or a getaway lovers chalet with heated jacuzzi. It would be a shame if all they did with that free heat was melt snow off the roof of a warehouse. They could be raking in the bitcoin in multiple ways.
Nah dude it's BC. Home of money laundering, drug running, and greased palms. Every scam under the sun is here. Anyone remember the Vancouver stock exchange?
I'm sure these dudes are cleaning up with government grants for their venture. We're desperate to convince the world this place is an alternative to SF.
I think you're buying our (Australia) used FA/18's too.
Buy now while it is low! You don't want to miss out.
It seems like the false starts refer to enterprise ideas in Ocean Falls, not Bitcoin mining.