Bitcoin in the bush – Cryon mining brings energy to rural areas

Zambezi roar deaf the ears where millions of expensive water crashes on the rocks and declined slopes.

But there is another sound that cuts the trees from the zambian jungle – where the Bitcoin mine is unambiguous.

“It is the voice of money!” The smiling Phillip Walton says he is seeking to investigate the shipping container with 120 computers that split through the complex accounts that verify bitcoin transactions.

In contrast, it is automatically rewarded by the network.

We are at the far northwest end of Zambia near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and all Bitcoin mines that you visited – this is the strangest.

Water equipment and electronic equipment usually do not mix well, but specifically to the proximity to the river that Bitcoiners drew here.

Phillip mine is connected directly at the hydroelectric power plant that connects some of the Zambezi torrents through the huge turbines for continuous and clean electricity generation.

More importantly, for bitcoin extraction – it’s cheap.

Very cheap, the Kenya -based Phillip is logical, withdrawing the charging container full of sensitive bitcoin mining via rough roads 14 hours from the nearest major city to stay here.

Each device makes about $ 5 (3.90 pounds) per day. More if the currency price is high, and less if it decreases.

Sometimes, Philip looks at his smart watch – the main screen that displays a changing line of bitcoin value in dollars.

Currently, about 80,000 dollars in a coin, but Philip says they can make a profit even when the value of bitcoin decreases thanks to the cheap electricity on the site and the partnership they enjoy with the power company.

“We have realized that in order to better obtain mining economics, we need a partnership with the energy company here and give them a share of revenue. Therefore, the reason is ready to go out here somewhere, it allows us to obtain a cheaper force.”

Zengamina is a huge but technically a small network – an independent Power Island for the local community.

It was built in the early first decade of the twentieth century thanks to $ 3 million collected from charitable donations.

British Daniel Reed, Daniel Reed, runs the site after his missionary family led the construction project primarily to operate the local hospital.

Now it provides energy for about 15,000 people in the local region, but the project has not been able to meet their needs because of the slow community.

Allowing Betcins to create a store here was the shift to work.

“Every day we were wasting more than half of the energy that we could create, which also means that we do not gain from that to face our operating expenses. We needed a large user of power in the region, and here the game change the game with Gridless.”

The Bitcoin mine is now about 30 % of the factory revenue, allowing them to maintain prices in the local city.

Bitcoin and its economy are of course far from the minds of people in Zengamina.

The city itself is a few miles from the factory and does not include more than a few dozen shed -like buildings roaming on cross roads.

There is only one store that includes a refrigerator and dozens of children gathering around a joint computer that alternates to choose a song to disappear, causing increased adults while spending their day.

Although the electric electricity plant came online in 2007, it took another few years to connect it to the local city, then more time to connect homes and individual companies.

Therefore, some people like a Damian Barber are still enjoying a wireless state only a year and a half ago.

“Until I got power I had nothing and could not do anything. When I got the power, I bought everything at the same time.”

He is not joking. At night, the small barber shop is a lighthouse strength with a TV playing music videos, chains of Christmas lights and hairstyles. Like mites, young people in the barber store are louder.

“I changed the strength of my life,” smiles. “The money I get now from the barber helps me to pay the school fees again.”

Electricity embrace is a commercial decision for two days. At home, the light bulb shares between the two rooms that make up the small house.

Elsewhere in the city, Tumba and Lucy Machayi sits at the crossroads of watching the world.

Like many young people, they are glued to their phones.

“Before the city got power, it was basically just Bush,” Lucy says.

They say the small electricity they used comes from small solar panels.

“No refrigerator, no TV, no mobile network,” says Tomba.

“Electricity has changed people’s lives here,” Lucy adds.

“We can charge our phones, we have a network. We can communicate with each other.”

Many people do not know here or care about the Bitcoin mine who played a role in helping the water plant to continue to continue.

But soon they will see this container again walking in the city on its way to another location.

Zengamina Hydro has a great investment to help them expand more villages and join the national network.

Soon, the extra energy whose mine would be sold to the national network and the bitcoin will not be profitable in Zengamina.

Phillip and Team are accused of this and insist that this is good news. They will have a few successful years here, and in the end they are happy to help Zengamina. And make a profit in Bitcoin, of course.

The company says that there are many places called the so -called way that they can formulate their bitcoin mine next to it.

Gridless already contains six sites like this in three different African countries.

Another Bitcoin mine raises the extra energy from the photovoltaic factory run by Veronga National Park in the Congo. It helps to finance memorization projects, says the park.

But Gridless is now planning an ambitious next step – to build their water sounds from scratch to mines for bitcoin and bring electricity to rural areas.

Janet Mingi, co -founder of the company, says the company is busy collecting tens of millions of dollars for the project.

They focus on the so -called photovoltaic models in running such as in Zengamina and the continent has an abundance of “unexploited aquatic capabilities” she says.

“The adaptive energy model by the consumer is necessary to reach the developmentable energy at reasonable and sustainable prices that meets the needs of African societies,” she explained.

The company is not a charitable institution and believes that long -term economic authority for developers and investors can only be made through bitcoin.

Finding sites for a new factory or taking advantage of those present is the easy part.

The company is still facing resistance from some of the authorities and companies that see Bitcoin as an Erdid energy and a selfish use of electricity that the countryside can use.

But the company insists that the incentive is always selling to the highest buyer and that will always be the local community.

History tells us that without incentives or bases in place, bitcoin mining on a large scale can put pressure on public energy networks. In Kazakhstan in 2020-2021, the mining boom in the country’s energy use increased by 7 % before the government came down and the boards of prosperous industry were cut off.

In the United States – the new Makkah Al -Mukarma Bitcoin – the conflicts between miners, local population and residents were common when electricity is in high demand.

The authorities have created agreements with some mining giants to ensure that they reduce their warehouses full of computers at times when the network needs a balance.

For example, Greenidge Gas Power Plant was assigned to New York, which was renewed to Bitcoin to integrate mining in January to provide electricity with the network during the cold surprise.

Such agreements will need to be widespread if “President Donald Trump’s ambition for Bitcoin” is achieved, and it is achieved in the United States.

The environmental impact of the industry is also a great concern. Bitcoin mining is able to use the largest energy as a small country like a Poland.

But according to researchers at the University of Cambridge, which is annual estimates about the use of energy in Bitcoin, there is a transformation in a more sustainable combination of energy.

Zengamina collections are a small part of the mining image in general.

But it is also a rare example of a controversial industry that creates more than just digital currencies.