The Bitcoin Boom Reaches a Canadian Ghost Town (bloomberg.com) 64
Most of the buildings in Ocean Falls that haven't been demolished over the decades are crumbling in place, and Greg Strebel, along with most everyone who once lived there, is long gone. A population that peaked at 5,000 has fallen below 100. But this summer, the mill began to emit a new sound. From a report: It was more of a buzz than a throb, really, but plenty loud to be heard as far away as the ferry dock and the old firehouse. It was the noise of hundreds of tiny fans blowing air past hundreds of tiny computers, keeping them cool while they ran 24 hours a day, creating Bitcoins. The Bitcoin mine has come to Ocean Falls after almost four decades of false starts. The town went dormant once the paper industry left, but it wasn't dead, exactly. The dam that powered the mill was still capable of producing about 13 megawatts of electricity. Some of that went to power Ocean Falls and two nearby towns, Bella Bella and Shearwater. But even in the middle of winter, their residents used less than one-third of the electricity, leaving plenty to support new industrial uses. The dam wasn't connected to the grid, a shortcoming that could also be an advantage in the right hands. Any power-hungry business willing to set up nearby would be well-positioned to negotiate a sweetheart deal.
For most industries, the remoteness of Ocean Falls offsets the benefits of cheap power. It's about 300 miles up the coast from Vancouver, accessible only by boat or seaplane. Strebel's teenage protestations aside, severe weather is a real issue. It's one of the rainier places on the continent, and high winds in the long winter months can hinder travel. And so almost every plan -- for casinos, breweries, marijuana-growing operations and water-bottling plants -- came and went with little tangible impact. At one point, a group of businessmen sought to fill ocean tankers with water from the town and sell it to California or Saudi Arabia. The only substantial business for now is a salmon hatchery. But several years ago, employees at Boralex, the private utility that owns the dam, began getting phone calls from Bitcoin miners, mysterious people untethered from the restraints of businesses producing actual physical goods.
For most industries, the remoteness of Ocean Falls offsets the benefits of cheap power. It's about 300 miles up the coast from Vancouver, accessible only by boat or seaplane. Strebel's teenage protestations aside, severe weather is a real issue. It's one of the rainier places on the continent, and high winds in the long winter months can hinder travel. And so almost every plan -- for casinos, breweries, marijuana-growing operations and water-bottling plants -- came and went with little tangible impact. At one point, a group of businessmen sought to fill ocean tankers with water from the town and sell it to California or Saudi Arabia. The only substantial business for now is a salmon hatchery. But several years ago, employees at Boralex, the private utility that owns the dam, began getting phone calls from Bitcoin miners, mysterious people untethered from the restraints of businesses producing actual physical goods.
Sounds ideal (Score:3)
Clean, remote, quiet, and good internet access. Hmm.
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Good internet access?
I'm going to guess that the internet access is acceptable for mining, but is likely not great as it's likely satellite based with huge latency as a result.
Also, don't underestimate the impact of being remote. In this part of the world, travel is impossible for weeks at a time, regardless of how bad you want or need to go, you are stuck. Where this can sound inviting, it can be a huge problem when all you have to do is board games and Netflix is "buffering" 2 hours for every 30 min sh
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BC mining requires very little internet bandwidth.
Also, if the fans are "buzzing" or even audible at all, then they are wasting energy. Get bigger fans and run them slower. Moving twice the volume of air at half the speed uses half the energy.
(2m)v^2 = 0.5 m(2v)^2
Save energy, and reduce vibrations that can eventually cause failures of RoHS solder.
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Beanie baby coupons (Score:5, Insightful)
This seems like a really, really stupid thing.
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You don't see the difference?
You mentioned "cut down," "ship," "mills," "turned into," "printed," "shipped," again, "exchange for labour," "beabie-babies," "other commodities," ...
The OP correctly described a closed system with no extant nouns or verbs.
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FTFY
Re:Beanie baby coupons (Score:5, Informative)
Vast amount of electricity and specialized fossil fuels are used to cut down millions of trees, ship them thousands of miles to lumber mills all over the world, turned into paper, printed into "dollars" which are also shipped all over the world he prize for which is dollar coupons in exchange for labor.
US banknotes are made from 75% cotton and 25% linen. The EU and many other countries use banknotes made of polymers. Paper notes are on the way out.
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It might be except for the
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I'd still trade you 5000 bitcoins for a pizza
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Don't listen to that jerk, he's trying to rip you off.
I'll trade you TEN pizzas for 5000 Bitcoins.
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What if your Beanie-baby coupons could be traded across the world, with a system that could guarantee that the coupon was not sold twice to the same buyer, nor counterfeited? In that case, you would have created a new type of currency. The inability to counterfeit your Beany-baby coupons would make it an attractive alternative to gold, and other stores of wealth. If you have actually created this (I can't tell if you're joking), where can I get one of your coupons?
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You say that like it's a bad thing.
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> implying
Re:Yawn (Score:5, Funny)
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Actually, the image immediately made me think of "Alan Wake", which takes place in a town called Bright Falls.
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Jesus Christ, that place [google.com] is a murder mystery waiting to happen.
It seemed a day like any other, but the locals knew something was up. There was a small change in a place where change happens rarely, and it gradually dawned on people that the low, almost inaudible hum from the old mill was gone. Sam Jones, a local fisherman with time on his hands, made his way to the mill to see what was happening. The hundreds of yards of smashed computers first caught his attention, because these were the centerpiece of the mill now: cryptocurrency miners. The flashing lights and d
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Sheriff? We're talking BC, so it would be the Mounties.
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21st century pet rock (Score:1)
This is a 21st century pet rock. Something that doesn't make -anyone- better off, but is a drain on resources...
Blockchain should be part of Drake equation (Score:3)
Bitcoin will be the stake (Score:3)
in the heart for that poor ghost town. Let's hope the people who remain there are smart enough to get paid rents, taxes, and the power bill using real money, not bitcoin.
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Let's say I'm sick. I get paid for last week's work in BTC, but can't make the exchange immediately. I am stuck holding the BTC for a couple weeks while I recover. I try to cash out and discover that my BTC is now worth half of what it was when I was working.
Would you accept that? I sure wouldn't. They can gamble with someone else's money, not mine.
If I were living and working in the US, I wouldn't accept French currency for my pay. I want $. Why would anyone accept anything but the currency they nee
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Yeah I don't think that's how it g... oooooooh.
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yay, syntax! (Score:2)
"The Bitcoin mine has come to Ocean Falls after almost four decades of false starts."
They've been trying to mine Bitcoin for almost four decades? Wow, those Canadians are really a forward-looking bunch. Did they start on an Apple II or something?
Things could get better for the town (Score:2)
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It's on the coast, probably little snow most years.