Slashdot Mirror
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.
This seems like a really, really stupid thing.
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.
Jesus Christ, that place is a murder mystery waiting to happen.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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.
Yeah I don't think that's how it g... oooooooh.
#DeleteFacebook
Actually, the image immediately made me think of "Alan Wake", which takes place in a town called Bright Falls.
Jesus Christ, that place is a murder mystery waiting to happen.
It seemed a day like any other, but the locals knew something was up. There was a small change in a place where change happens rarely, and it gradually dawned on people that the low, almost inaudible hum from the old mill was gone. Sam Jones, a local fisherman with time on his hands, made his way to the mill to see what was happening. The hundreds of yards of smashed computers first caught his attention, because these were the centerpiece of the mill now: cryptocurrency miners. The flashing lights and dull hums of their cooling fans masked their purpose: turning the energy generated by the adjacent dam into money. Every single one of those computers was now smashed in it's rack The second thing that caught Jones' eye was a shape in a darkened corner. Approaching the corner, Sam could see a man slumped in a chair. As he came close, Jones could see it was Kevin Day, the guy who breathed new life into the mill. Only he was dead, taped to this chair and his skull caved in by a blow from the baseball bat casually discarded on the floor. Recoiling from the sight, Jones almost tripped over a laptop on the floor. Only this laptop had been carefully taken apart and the hard drive removed, in strange contrast to the violence around him. Jones knew he had to get to a phone to call the local sheriff, three tows and 30 miles away. Whatever happened here had already happened a while ago.
"A major apartment fire in 1950 killed eight,[5] a mudslide in 1965 killed seven and the town's Charleson school burned down on the night between December 21 and 22, 1969"
"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.
Sheriff? We're talking BC, so it would be the Mounties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
I think you're buying our (Australia) used FA/18's too.