The first 200,000 computers will be stored at the Quirk Creek gas plant near the village of Millarville in southwest Alberta.
A timetable was not announced immediately, says BlackRock Petroleum, which is unrelated to BlackRock, the New York-based asset management giant.
The term of the contract to use the natural gas sites will be 24 months, according to a press release from BlackRock Petroleum. The latest law states that armed security guards will monitor mining facilities 24 hours a day.
high energy consumption
It is difficult to say with certainty how many computers make up the global bitcoin mining network. Alex de Vries, a researcher and economist who runs crypto-analytics website Digiconomist, estimates the number at about 3 million.
In other words, the 1 million computers supposed to arrive in Alberta could represent about a third of the world’s bitcoin mining capacity.
Mining is a very energy intensive activity. Experts say the arrival of these computers in Alberta could have a significant impact on energy consumption.
Alex de Vries estimates that moving these computers to Alberta would represent a multi-billion dollar investment and that fossil fuels would be the main source of energy.
If they come to Alberta and start running on natural gas all year round, it won’t improve the situation for that system. [de minage]Which is actually responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than we save with all electric cars in the world combined
, he argues.
Said Kaddoura, an analyst at the Pembina Institute, an environmental research center, calls Bitcoin mining parasitic process
.
One of the things that attracts Bitcoin miners to Alberta is the availability of really cheap energy
, he argues.
Chinese palace repression
This agreement comes on the heels of actions taken by China against bitcoin mining companies on its soil.
China has decided to ban Bitcoin mining completely, especially for environmental reasons […] This means that a large number of machines become available to the rest of the world, to anyone with the money and resources to operate them.
Alex de Vries explains.
According to Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, another cryptocurrency firm that has operated in China and has no connection to the Alberta project, an increasing number of Chinese miners are looking for opportunities elsewhere in the world.
They are searching for electricity options all over the world, including [en] Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Scandinavia, North America
, he explains.
What is bitcoin mining?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is not under the control of any central entity, such as a central bank. Bitcoin transactions are carried out by miners, i.e. individuals or companies, who use the computing power of their computers for the benefit of the network.
In order for a bitcoin transaction to be validated, a miner must pass a complex mathematical equation. A miner who succeeds in this problem receives a bitcoin payment. This is the reason why more and more companies are engaging in bitcoin mining in large quantities from very powerful computers. The value of the cryptocurrency has increased significantly this year. As of August 10, bitcoin is worth over $45,500, according to CoinMarketCap.
With information from Joel Dryden
