- Ripple Partner SBI is investing in one of the largest Bitcoin mining farms in the world, making it one of the first companies to lease into the farm.
- To this end, SBI has entered into a strategic partnership with Northern Data AG and Whinstone US in order to advance the further development of the project.
SBI Crypto Co, Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japan-based financial conglomerate SBI Holdings Inc. and a long-standing Ripple Partner. SBI Crypto will be one of the first companies to start Bitcoin mining in the new Whinstone US data center in Texas in March 2020.
The German company Whinstone Inc. has acquired a piece of land in Texas with a size of almost 100 hectares to build one of the largest Bitcoin Mining farms in the world. According to the company, the initial capacity will be 300 megawatts. By the end of this year, capacity is expected to increase to 1 gigawatt. The mining farm is to become “the largest data center in North America and the largest Bitcoin mining farm in the world.
The farm’s capacity is three times bigger than that of Bitmain, the industry leader, which is located nearby. Mike McGlone, Senior Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, describes that Texas is a particularly attractive location for the mining industry as there is plenty of cheap energy available, such as wind power. Wind power generation accounted for more than 20% of Texas’ electricity last year and is expected to overtake coal for the first time this year.
Besides Whinstone Inc., the main shareholder of the Mining Farm is Nortner Data AG, who jointly operate the farm under previously undisclosed ownership. CEO of Northern Data AG, Aroosh Thillainathan, is pleased to have SBI on board and describes that the development of the ecosystem can be accelerated even faster through joint efforts:
With its activities to date, SBI Holdings has impressively demonstrated its leadership in the emerging crypto and blockchain industry. This partnership gives us the potential to grow even faster by joining forces.
Carson Smith, CEO of SBI Crypto, says that SBI has been planning to enter the project and exploit the synergy effects since early 2019:
We have been planning with Whinstone and Northern Data for the Texas mining farm since early 2019. I am excited to see the results and to see a continuing strengthening of our relationship that will benefit the ecosystems we are creating.
The mining farm is being built at the Rockadale site with currently almost 5,900 inhabitants. Due to the strategically favourable location, many start-ups and larger companies are migrating to this region and creating new jobs.
Bitcoin miners from China control 66% of the global hashrate
According to a report by CoinShares, China controls up to 66% of the global hashrates in the Bitcoin network. Sichuan province alone is said to be responsible for more than half of this share. This imbalance is heavily criticized in the community and leads to a centralization that could be abused. The new mining farm in Texas could decimate China’s superiority.
However, China is also making further efforts to promote mining. As Crypto News Flash already reported at the end of October, a committee from Sichuan province has declared that Bitcoin mining is to be further promoted and expanded. The goal is to create more business opportunities in the region based on Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
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