Focus on Europe Mining Bitcoins in Iceland Bitcoins are popular all over the world but some of the major cloud mining companies are in Iceland.Marco Streng is the founder of the biggest , Genesis Mining.Date 26.01.2017 Duration 05:41 mins.Homepage Focus on Europe - Spotlight on People All videos Focus on Europe , Focus on Europe - DW's spotlight on people Related Subjects Bitcoin, Iceland Keywords Iceland, Bitcoin, digital currency, Marco Streng, Mine Share Send Facebook Google+ More Send us your feedback.Print Print this page Permalink /p/2WIiuIn a small industrial park on a south-westerly lava plain peninsula of Iceland, a steadily expanding server farm is pumping out plumes of steam - and millions of dollars worth of bitcoin.Within the warehouse structure are clinically clean, bright white corridors containing rack after rack of servers storing data and providing processing power for everything from car manufacturers to Hollywood special effects firms.Iceland, with its 100% renewable energy, perma-cool temperatures and data cable connections to both sides of the Atlantic, is a "sweet-spot" location for companies to base their massive power-consuming, heat-producing machines.

Among them are bitcoin miners.Bitcoin mining - the process of solving complex mathematical equations with a computer in order to generate the cryptocurrency - is designed so that the cryptographic algorithms become ever-more complicated as more computers join the network.With the vast amounts of computing power now required to generate bitcoin, mining companies are moving their operations en masse to Iceland in an attempt to cut costs and make their endevours profitable within this new technological arms race.bitcoin requested work updateCheap, stable and abundant energyLast month the cryptocurrency firm DigitalBTC - the first virtual currency company to be listed on a major stock exchange - partnered with data centre provider Verne Global to set up its mining rigs within the company's Icelandic operations."Icelandlitecoin mining rig kaufen

offers two key advantages for us – low cost and capacity for growth," Alex Karis, CEO of Digital BTC, told IBTimes UK."Iceland has cheap, stable renewable energy, and an abundance of it."Wecan reduce our energy costs and maintain a low cost advantage as we grow our mining operations.We have just launched a new product platform and mining is an area we expect to see continued growth."Verneethereum microsoft ibmGlobal has experienced exponential growth since setting itself up in Iceland, according to CEO Jeff Monroe, doubling in size each year that it has been operational."Itjust so happens that Iceland has an abundance of dual source energy in the form of geothermal and hydroelectric energy," Monroe told IBTimes UK on a recent visit to the firm's Iceland data centre.Monroe is very secretive about his clients and can not be drawn into conversation about specific mining rigs, though he is able to detail the cost-savings such companies are making."[One

client] saved over 83% on their energy cost alone.But more importantly than just the energy savings - they substantially reduced their carbon footprint which for most companies is becoming more and more important."DigitalBTCis not the only mining company to move in to the industrial park.Last month, Switzerland-based mining firm Bitmine switched from their base in the Alps to set up shop in Iceland.The company's "cloud hashing" model allows customers to benefit from the hugely expensive industrial mining rigs by offering contracts that return a slice of the cryptocurrency produced."Soonthere will be no market for private miners," a spokesperson for Bitmine told IBTimes UK."It will be companies like ours that will provide the only profitable way to actually mine."Wealso predict that cloud hashing mining firms will increasingly move to Iceland due to the significantly lower electricity costs."CurrentlyBitmine have around one petahash per second (Ph/s) of mining capabilities generating around 4,000 bitcoins per month - the equivalent of around $1.2 million (£750,000, €950,000) worth of bitcoin at today's prices.It aims to triple this by the end of the year, which, together with other Iceland-based mining firms DigitalBTC and Cloudhashing, will push the country's total bitcoin output up to around $8m per month.BitMine may be the latest but it is unlikely to be the last mining company to capitalise on Iceland's unique offerings and cash in on this 21st century gold rush."Private

miners may soon be extinct, but the cloud mining companies are on the rise," the spokesperson said."And they're moving to Iceland."Iceland is a small and beautiful country.It’s also a country that has had its share of financial crisis.The country was devastated by the financial crisis of 2008 and it’s currently reeling from another financial crisis impacting its Prime Minister.With all of the financial issues facing the small country, you might think that it would be open to the possibilities of distributed Blockchain networks and even a digital currency like Bitcoin.It is after all, home to some of the largest Bitcoin mining businesses.Iceland enjoys colder than normal temperatures throughout the year and it’s a place where daylight lasts into the evening.The appeal of their geothermal pools is a reason why tourists flock to the small country, and this geothermal energy helps to keep the price of electricity and energy low in the country.In 2014, The New York Times reported on the appeal of Iceland for operations interested in Bitcoin mining.

Nathaniel Popper reported on a facility in Iceland, where “more than 100 whirring silver computers, each in a locked cabinet and each cooled by blasts of Arctic air, are the laborers of the virtual mines where Bitcoins are unearthed.The custom-built machines, running an open-source Bitcoin program, perform complex algorithms 24 hours a day, seeking to win a block of 25 new Bitcoins from the virtual currency’s decentralized network.” As anyone who has tried their hands at Bitcoin mining on a large scale knows, the electricity needs are often as Popper says, “the deciding factor in profitability.” However, Popper reported that the Bitcoin mining “gold rush” was occurring in Iceland, “where geothermal and hydroelectric energy are plentiful and cheap.And the arctic air is free and piped in to cool the machines, which often overheat when they are pushed to the outer limits of their computing capacity.”Anthony Cuthbertson reported on the benefits of Iceland for Bitcoin mining in his article entitled, ‘Geothermal Gold: Why Bitcoin Mines are Moving to Iceland’ by stating the advantages of the country for miners, “Iceland, with its 100% renewable energy, perma-cool temperatures and data cable connections to both sides of the Atlantic, is a 'sweet-spot' location for companies to base their massive power-consuming, heat-producing machines.”These energy cost savings have been huge for companies, but the appeal of using energy sources in the form of geothermal and hydroelectric energy (which is also plentiful in the country) goes beyond just profit to the need to reduce a company’s carbon footprint.The rural countryside and open spaces also helps to bring in companies that are looking to combine the low energy costs with the potential for expansion.