Chinese mining farms are the size of multi-story buildings. Bitcoin mining on an industrial scale, mining farms in China

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 also 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 financial center city, in the Kwai Chung region. The farm itself is small in area, but produces great amount capacity 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.

On this large farm, they use the most innovative technologies. The bubbling liquid is refrigerant produced by 3M, which cools running ASIC chips.

Thanks to liquid cooling, this farm began to generate more income compared to traditional farm building solutions. Most often, to reduce heat, radiators and powerful fans are used, 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 is profitable industrial scale. 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, short circuit protection, security and fire alarms.

The most unique thing about the way the farm operates is the lack of control. This type of money does not belong to anyone, there are no factors such as:

government issue;
banking monitoring;
transaction fees;
restrictions on the creation of services;
need to use your real name.

And both the bitcoin system itself and its currency operate almost entirely on the Internet, except for the equipment and people who service the facilities.

How does the cryptocurrency mining process work?

Bitcoin users keep their own log of every transaction, even those in which they did not participate. Each miner works to update and synchronize the records of all users.

Confirms the validity of a transaction in real time.
The process is carried out by solving complex algorithms.
The information is then sent to the network.

Bitcoin cryptocurrency mining as a competition. Miners use special computer programs, calculating a series of codes and functions that are combined with securely encrypted transfer data. Opening a new bitcoin block rewards the participant or community of participants.

How Bitcoin functions are solved depends more on the odds and how the processing power works than on the individual miner. This fact makes the process more of a lottery than a straightforward mathematical test.

To succeed in Bitcoin mining you need the following things:

Lots of supercomputers.
Huge amount of electricity.

Due to this, although the entire civilization is working on mining bitcoins on farms, China has become the leader. A country rising sun not only supplies most extracting equipment for the world market, but is also working on building its own farms using cheap electricity.

As a result, China owns the largest reserves of bitcoins and the largest settlement capacities.

How does a Chinese Bitcoin mining farm work?

The global capital where Bitcoin mining operates is Sichuan Province. In the surrounding areas, hydroelectric power stations with the cheapest electricity in the world are located en masse. Billions in the equivalent of bitcoins are mined on farms, and beyond government control.

The Bitcoin mining industry, thanks to super profits, operates surrounded by secrets.

Few people have been able to see how a Bitcoin mining farm works. But we were able to prepare a short overview of the Chinese model of Bitcoin mining.

A photojournalist for a European publication, Liu Xingze, managed to visit a Bitcoin farm built near Sichuan, about 30 km from the nearest transport route. The Bitcoin farm operates 550 machines around the clock, overseen by several employees.

Leads to the farm winding road. A room with equipment for cryptocurrency mining, with a blue roof. There is a hydroelectric power station nearby.

Goats from a neighboring village stroll under fans along the wall of the farm.

Employees inspect how the equipment works, assemble bitcoin boards right on the spot, and resolve routine issues.

The staff lives in a dormitory, which is located next to the farm. IN free time people play on their phones, watch movies and communicate with family.

The locations are not advertised, and the number of visitors is strictly limited. Especially now that the state has begun to both identify and reduce underground farms and introduce trade fees. And also tries to set rules. That's why some mining companies mysteriously disappear or move.

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 policy measures 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 a fight against Bitcoin is not a bolt from the blue, but a completely 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. Sources, however, were unable to provide more detailed information about 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.

China is one of the world leaders in Bitcoin mining. The most populous country the world is considered driving force main 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 a great distance from the capital of the country and large regions. Here electricity costs a penny, 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 autonomous region 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, 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 is the maximum limit for comfortable operation of the 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.

Mining is now done even at home, but it cannot be compared with professional activity artisanal “farms” do not work.

A selection of photographs of mining farms from around the world: large investments, the last word technology and bitcoin evangelism.

Mining (from the English Mine) is the extraction of mineral resources, but mining is not done with a pick and shovel, but while sitting at home with a powerful computing system, helping the process of recording a block of cryptocurrency transactions in the blockchain.

1. The building with the blue roof in the photo is one of the largest Bitcoin farms in China. Found in the mountains of Sichuan province on the border with Tibet. Next door is a hydroelectric power station.

2. Pay attention to the powerful ventilation holes. One of the features of Chinese farms is popular sponsorship. Local residents give money for mining and then monitor the process using smartphones.

3. One of the farm premises and two bored employees. They work on the farm local residents, they live in a hostel next door.

4. A farm employee is fixing a broken machine. AntMiner S7 ($490) machines were recently purchased here, which will replace the now outdated AntMiner S5 ($140). 550 machines work around the clock and produce approximately 2.5 bitcoins per day.

5. Workers assemble brand new mining machines. Chinese farms are advantageous in terms of low labor costs and unpretentiousness of employees. In addition, China is famous for cheap electricity.

6. In the photo: one of the hangars of the largest mining farm in China. Already now it owns 5% of the hashing power of the entire Bitcoin network, and it has not yet been completed. The farm occupies 4 such hangars, each 150 m long and 20 m wide (12,000 m²).

7. As you can see from the premises, everything on this farm is cheap and cheerful: cheap land, cheap unskilled workers, cheap equipment.

8. Racks with mining machines on a farm in Guizhou province, China. Like many farms in China, this one is made with minimal input. The machines mine both bitcoins and ether.

9. In the photo - “Enigma”, the Genesis Mining farm, located in Iceland.

10. Thanks to the cold Icelandic climate, cheap electricity and fast Internet, the cost of Ether (the currency of the Ethereum network) is quite low.

11. The farm from Swiss Linteil, the modest interior of which is visible in the photo, belongs to Bitcoin pioneer Guido Rudolphi.

13. The photo shows racks with hundreds of ASIC chips at the largest mining farm in Hong Kong. The area of the entire farm is no larger than a three-room apartment. It is located in the Kwai Chung district, 8 miles from the financial center.

14. The same farm. The cabinets contain servers that process mathematical problems for mining. Incredibly quiet, only a quiet hum can be heard.

15. In the photo: the refrigerant boils from the heat generated by the ASIC chips. The Hong Kong farm uses liquid cooling. This method helps save on space and electricity.

16. Radiators, standing nearby with farm premises. Effectively removes the heat generated by the chips.

17. And this is the largest Russian farm. It is the epitome of cooling and electrical engineering genius. The farm has 3000 ANTMINER S9 miners installed, the total hashing power is 38 PH/S. The total consumed electrical power is 4500 kW⋅h, 3,240,000 kW per month. The farm owner pays about 6,500,000 rubles for electricity per month. But this amount is ridiculous compared to the income of the owners: 20 bitcoins per day, 600 bitcoins per month.

One of the main features of the system is complete decentralization: there is no central administrator or any analogue. Public or private control of the system, including changing the total number of bitcoins, is impossible. The volume and timing of the release of new bitcoins are known in advance, but they are distributed relatively randomly among those who use their hardware for computing.

At the beginning of 2015, even if we assume that all miners use the most energy-efficient ASIC processors, the total electricity consumption for mining was estimated at 1.46 terawatt-hours per year, which is equivalent to an annual consumption of 135,000 American houses. Overall volume Bitcoin emission is limited, since it is the sum of the terms of a decreasing geometric progression, and will not exceed 21 million. As of May 2014, there were 12.7 million bitcoins in circulation.