In recent months, crypto miners have been hemorrhaging money faster than they can earn it. This is due to the continuously falling prices of Bitcoin, coupled with the uptrend of mining power that is pushing the difficulty rate higher than ever before. Despite these factors hindering the crypto mining industry, Bitmain is still looking to expand its operations out of China and cement its place as the largest crypto mining firm in the world.
Washington State Welcomes Bitmain
Bitmain has decided to call East Wenatchee in Douglas County its new American home thanks to its abundance of low-cost hydroelectric power and welcome stance towards the industry. Washington state has become the home to scores of crypto mining firms over the past few years, in large part thanks to the huge amount of available hydroelectric power. Bitmain is hoping to utilize this to lower its expenditure and become more profitable as a result.
Not all Counties Love Crypto Miners
Unfortunately for Bitmain, it had to search long and hard to find a county that would accept it in Washington. Countless counties in the state have taken up stances that are very anti-crypto mining and some are even hiking up the price of power for these firms. Chelan County has recently hiked the power cost for crypto miners and Plattsburgh has created new rules that state that mining farms can’t operate at a noise level louder than 90 decibels – at a distance of 25 meters. These new rules coming into force highlight that counties and cities across the state are fed up with miners rolling into town, creating noise, and disrupting the local power grid.
Bitmain Ramping up Activity
Earlier this year, Bitmain looked as if it was circling the drain. However, with a raft of new announcements and an IPO draft application, it appears as if the mining hardware manufacturer is back on its feet. In fact, in the wake of its IPO draft application, Bitmain announced the launch of its “new” Antmain T15 ASIC mining rigs. The “new” devices will begin shipping shortly, complete with pre-collected dust and rust following extensive testing by Bitmain’s mining department.
Steering Away From China
Bitmain looks as if it wants to flee from China as fast as possible. With a new data center in Washington, it could slowly transition its base of operations out of China and into the US – something Trump and his administration would very much love to see happen. China has been adopting a very anti-crypto stance in the past few months, and this could have started to scare off Bitmain and force it to develop plans to leave the country. If so, this is definitely one of the first steps Bitmain would need to make.
Since the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, the Bitcoin network hash rate has fallen considerably, with this helping miners remain profitable. However, the price of electricity remains a large factor in the profitability equation, but Washington will certainly help Bitmain achieve that goal.
