To get a sense of how big Bitcoin is, look backstage…
I think people don’t really appreciate how big the crypto space has become in just a few short years.
It’s actually massive.
And you can talk about how many coins are traded every day, but in a digital era where things are flying around all over the place with the click of a button, I don’t think it really tells the story.
So let’s look at the ‘picks and shovels’ of crypto – the “miners”.
Crypto mining – and Bitcoin mining in particular – is what you call the back-end work of the block-china caluclations. The blockchain is the special sauce in all crypto assets, but it takes a huge amount of computational power to keep it running.
This is what the miners do, and for their hard work, they get rewarded with fresh coins.
And mining is now a massive industry. It’s huge.
But a picture tells a thousand words, so have a look at some of the mining operations that are popping up all over the world.
The first is from a geothermal energy facility that is built into a volcano in El Salvador. Yes, a volcano.
El Salvador is a global frontrunner in Bitcoin adoption, thanks to their President’s love of Bitcoin and hatred of the US dollar.
The next photo is from inside Bitriver, which is the largest data centre in Russia. This facility requires immense cooling systems to keep the computers from overheating – which is nuts when you remember how cold Russia already is.
What a massive operation!
This next image is from the Bitfury mining farm in Amsterdam…squeaky clean. This reportedly began operation as early as 2011.
In comparison, this mining farm in China is going for the post-apocalyptic look. Hey, whatever makes you money.
Over in Montana, USA, this Bitcoin mine is built alongside a gas flare mitigation site, in an attempt to give a little back to the environment.
And finally, this image shows a liquid immersion Bitcoin mining machine. The liquid is keeps the computers cool, which shows how crypto is helping to advance a range of tech.
Anyway, the point is that if you think Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining is just a bunch of nerds messing around in their bedrooms, you are way behind the times.
Bitcoin is serious business.
And it’s not going anywhere soon.
DB.