In a crumbling economy, Venezuela’s cheap electricity is a blessing for its Bitcoin miners

[ad_1]

In the highly competitive world of crypto mining, the economically beaten Venezuela has one advantage: extremely cheap electricity.

With energy prices as low as 0.06 cents per kilowatt / hour, mining cryptocurrency is proving hugely lucrative for an entrepreneur based in Caracas, a country plagued by economic uncertainty and some of the highest hyperinflation rates in the world.

The Doctor Miner mining company has a bank of 80 shoebox-sized computers each costing around $ 340 and mining Bitcoin around the clock, generating $ 8,500 in token per month.

Company president Theodoro Toukoumidis said the company started mining Ethereum at the homes of staff members in 2016, before setting up the computer grid that now focuses on Bitcoin.

“In Venezuela, any old, medium or new generation mining machine is profitable,” he told AFP.

“I sold my car to buy a computer and literally had to walk everywhere to buy my first machine. And my partner traded the motorbike he had for a computer and we both stayed on foot, betting absolutely everything about this technology. ” he added.

Blackouts and slow internet

While Venezuela suffers from regular power outages and slow internet speeds, they are not enough to disrupt a growing cryptomining industry.

Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, has been in the throes of hyperinflation for several years.

The country’s central bank has said it will remove six zeros from the currency starting October 1 in an attempt to prevent it from slipping further against the U.S. dollar.

The bank has already cut eight zeros from the bolivar since 2008.

Having cryptocurrencies “is a way out of hyperinflation in Venezuela for many people,” Venezuelan economist Aaron Olmos said.

“In Venezuela the kilowatt / hour is very cheap, practically 0.06 cents. And that makes validating a blockchain or mining a cryptocurrency much more profitable for any Venezuelan than in any other. other country, “he said.

In 2017, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launched a cryptocurrency called “Petro” which he said would be used to bypass what his government called the country’s US “financial blockade”.

Although Maduro pushed for wider use, it failed to gain the trust of consumers or investors.

[ad_2]