Inside look of a high-end secretive Bitcoin farm in Hong Kong
Xiaogang Cao is an entrepreneur and journalist, and in recent days his name is appearing in the Internet because he posted a picture of rather special mining extraction. We’re talking about images that portray a specialized datacenter, aka one of the sites, used for the mining of bitcoins.
A single bitcoin (BTC) is now worth more than $1000. To generate bitcoins, it is necessary to carry out long and complicated mathematical puzzles. As a result the activities of mining require a large cache of powerful hardware; and with the growing popularity of bitcoins, generating the virtual currency becomes more and more difficult and expensive. Encouraged by some success, sometimes completely unexpected, many people devote their equipment to mining.
In Hong Kong people have actually taken the business seriously.
Xiaogang Cao posted pictures of a new HK-based mining operation being set up in a Kwai Chung industrial building. The company behind the operation is Asicminer, who own multiple mining facilities. HK’s new Bitcoin farm involves one meter high transparent glass tanks, copper piping, cooling machines and computer boards soaked in bubbling 3M cooling liquid.
The mining construction began in August 2013. In a race against time, and mining began in October. With an eye on the future, there is extra capacity built into the site. Facilities like this are springing up like mushrooms in Hong Kong and throughout China.
What’s unique about this particular plant is that it uses a liquid cooling system rather than large supercomputers. The motherboards that handle the bitcoin mining are immersed in large tanks, where it can be seen bubbling. An intricate piping system pumps cold air from the roof to lower the temperature. According to Cao Xiaogang, the room that houses the machinery is as quiet as a library. A crane was used to install cooling systems. The cooling technique is one of the most advanced, keeping temperatures below 37 degrees.
The big question is whether these specialized equipment undermine outweigh the initial Bitcoin investment, and what will happen on the market for these virtual currencies reached its saturation point.
Take a look at the photo gallery (reblogged in English), including mining building, copper cables, LED and cooling systems.
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