The low cost of the electricity and the cool temperatures of the small town of Wenatchee, Washington has attracted many people interested in bitcoin mining.
Located three hours east of Seattle, this small town is becoming a hotpot for bitcoin mining in the United States.
Wenatchee is now the home of a dozen of the largest bitcoin mining operations in the country. The head of the local power utility says that other 75 people have been questioning about coming to the town after bitcoin’s value reached astronomical heights in December.
One of the earliest miners settled here, Malachi Salcido, runs 3 mining operations here which produce 5 to 7 bitcoins a day.
He uses enough electricity to power 11,000 homes, 7.5 megawatts. His goal is to reach a production rate of 50 bitcoin a day by the month of July, which would need a staggering 42 megawatts of power.
That is the reason why he is in Wenatchee. The cost of electricity here is very cheap, 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt hour.
Aside from cheap power, the low temperatures keep the servers cool. The town also has great internet access.
The combinations of these factors got people thinking that this place is perfect for bitcoin mining.
But the number of wannabe miners has the utility regulator concerned. He does does not want bitcoin mining leaving the local community to be responsible for unpaid electricity bills.
In spite of the low price of power, Salcido claims his monthly electric bills are over $100,000, but says that the costs are justified.
He goes on to say that:“We mine bitcoin because bitcoin blockchain is becoming the cashless, peer-to-peer payment settlement system of the future.This is a true peer-to-peer settlement tech that once it’s mature is going to significantly disrupt these existing markets and it’s going to make new direct purchase options available that there are not tech options available currently on the market”.
