Contents:
Bitcoin miner Layer1 is turning that dream into reality — having figured out how to make money even when its machines are turned off. Layer1 is a cryptocurrency startup backed by the likes of billionaire Peter Thiel.
In recent months, out in the hardscrabble land of west Texas, the company has been busy erecting steel boxes think shipping containers stuffed chockablock with high-end processors submerged inside cooling baths of mineral oil. Why west Texas? Beause thanks to a glut of natural gas and a forest of wind turbines, power there is among the cheapest in the world — which is what you need for crypto.
By this fall Layer1 will have dozens of these boxes churning around the clock to transform megawatts into a stream of Bitcoin. Already this year west Texas has seen a string of degree days. It was only the third time in history that Texas power hit that level. Turns out that running a phalanx of Bitcoin miners is a great way to arbitrage those peaks.
Two decades ago industrialist Charles Hurwitz bought up power-hogging aluminum smelters in the Pacific Northwest and made more money reselling electricity than making metal. As for Layer1, Liegl says his next step is to vertically integrate into financial products, including Bitcoin derivatives and more.
Tracking energy innovators from Houston, Texas. Forbes reporter since A challenge common to data center operators that Soluna may struggle to overcome is the issue of intermittency. Another potential issue is the legal status of the territory around the wind farm. The United Nations has been trying to hold a referendum to decide on the fate of the former Spanish colony since it brokered a ceasefire in between Morocco and Polisario.
The UN lists it as a non-decolonized territory while. The U. Central Intelligence Agency describes it as a non self-governing territory. Soluna is part of a trend led by technology giants including Facebook Inc. Tech giants have as contracted more 9 gigawatts of clean electricity to date, signing purchase agreements with solar and wind farm developers worldwide.
With the price of Bitcoin down more than 60 percent down from its peak in December, the power price that miners pay to mint new currency is becoming more important.
No one has a perfect number on how much energy is being used for bitcoin mining. With the price of Bitcoin down more than 60 percent down from its peak in December, the power price that miners pay to mint new currency is becoming more important. Continue Reading. Password recovery. But who thought that something as old school as mining could make such a big comeback? He says the arid climate in that part of the state makes it possible to use evaporative cooling, a process that takes advantage of the physics of water evaporation, to cool mining machines at a very low cost.
The increasingly difficult computations for creating new blockchains — the encrypted digital ledgers that underpin cryptocurrencies — require ever-more powerful computers. And many of the big server farms need air conditioning to keep from overheating.
Sign in.
We use wind electricity for cryptocurrency mining to secure alternative We are: 7 wind power stations; Renewable electricity producer; MW installed power. Is Texas the new promised land for Bitcoin miners? The backers of several big-money projects are betting yes, thanks to the state's cheap.
Log into your account. Forgot your password?