When it comes to mining cryptos, the three most important things to consider are power costs, cooling requirements, and hardware spec. To create an equilibrium whereby crypto mining is low cost yet rewarding, you need to balance these three aspects very carefully. Interestingly, one country can solve two of those defining elements, leaving you to worry about the final piece of the puzzle – hardware. Iceland boasts possibly the lowest electricity rates in Europe and its weather is almost arctic, making it the perfect crypto mining location.
No Cooling Needed
Iceland sits just below the arctic circle, meaning temperatures rarely reach above 11*C, even in the peak of summer. This icy cold weather makes cooling ASIC miners a breeze, simply crack open a few windows and your mining rigs will remain at the perfect temperature. By using the natural cold weather to cool crypto mining rigs, crypto miners can save a nice chunk of money.
Companies around the world have tried many different crypto cooling solutions, ranging from burying mining rigs in an abandoned Soviet bunker to submerging ASIC chips in baths full of cooling solution.
Low Cost Power
Once again, thanks to Iceland’s location it has access to an incredible amount of geothermal heat, which is used to create a nearly infinite amount of geothermal electricity. Geothermal power plants sit atop of huge fissures in the tectonic plates, creating this cheap power for the national grid. Almost 98% of the country’s power comes from geothermal activity, making power a very cheap commodity in the country.
In America, miners have flocked to hydroelectric rich Washington state and New York state in order to benefit from the low cost of power, but those two locations cannot compare with Iceland. The country has a power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio of around 1.03, meaning that for every $100 invoiced the actual cost of power is around $103. To put it into perspective, the average PUE in Europe is around 1.78, making Iceland nearly twice as cost-effective compared to the rest of Europe.
Big Players Heading to Iceland
Two years ago, Iceland was mainly home to hobbyist crypto miners. However, with the crypto boom towards the end of 2017 along came big mining firms looking to cut costs. Bitfury and Genesis quickly opened up mining farms in Iceland and forced out the local hobbyist miners. While companies like Bitmain aren’t actively heading to Iceland at the moment, it is likely high up the list of potential new locations for its crypto mining operations.
Crypto mining is nearly unprofitable for hobbyist miners nowadays. The vast leap in technology means that in order to keep up with the large-scale firms, people would need to invest millions in creating their own crypto mining farm. Iceland is one of the few places left on the planet whereby hobbyist miners still have a chance to mine cryptos. The landscape is also perfect for industrial miners, many of which will undoubtedly swoop into the country very soon. Iceland and crypto miners go hand in hand, so it’s only a matter of time before Iceland becomes the crypto mining capital of the world.
