Are cryptocurrency miners coming to Iceland?

A more recent entrant to Iceland’s industrial landscape are cryptocurrency miners, lured in by the cheap electricity needed for mining new coins after demand and prices have skyrocketed. Despite recent volatility, in dollar terms Bitcoin is up more than 80% year to date, and hit an all-time high of almost $69,000 in November.

How do crypto miners work?

Crypto miners perform these laborious mathematical equations using their mining equipment to try to ‘break’ the hash and mine the next block. There is usually a block reward involved, often in the form of some of the network’s native coins (e.g., Bitcoin miners would receive a block reward of bitcoins, or BTC tokens).

Why is Iceland a good place to mine bitcoin?

The answer is simple: location, location and volcanoes. Volcanoes provide Iceland with a cheap and abundant form of renewable energy. Geothermal and hydroelectric plants abound on the island, driving down the wholesale cost of power, which lets bitcoin miners make higher profits as they run their computers 24/7, 365 days a year.

What happened to a crypto mine in North Carolina?

A crypto mine sits in a field along a rural road in Murphy, North Carolina. A few weeks after that announcement, residents packed the Cherokee County Board meeting where representatives from the company were scheduled to appear, but soon learned that management had changed their minds after a power outage at another crypto site nearby.