thecoinrepublic.com
Intro: Crypto miners from Quebec are looking for new locations to expand their business of mining. This is because of the changing laws and regulations in the province as they are growing their business beyond the Quebec regulations on the use of power.
The new miners from Quebec are looking for expansion and move towards the new aeeas for their mining operations. Quebec has had a lot of sources of clean, renewable energy for years. It is an ideal place to mine Bitcoin.
Since mining requires a lot of electricity, which is also dangerous to the environment, the Canadian government has laid down stringent laws and regulations. The laws were made strict to put a curb on the amount of power used to mine Bitcoin. Miners are therefore leaving the country for other sources of power.
Nasdaq and TSX listed company Bitfarms is one such company that has the largest bitcoin miners in Canada. The company operates in Quebec but it seems it will soon look for a new location due to the non-compatible laws and regulations.
Ben Gagnon, Chief Mining Officer, Bitfarms, said that with the rules and the restrictions made by the authorities, there are limited growth opportunities seen in Quebec, at least as the policies currently show. Bitfarms market capitalization is $700 million. The company’s revenue increased to 200% in the first quarter of 2021.
Growth vs Expansion
With the growth of the company, it is bound to expect the expansion of the company also. However, for Bitfarms it is not possible to expand in Quebec. The prices of Bitcoin were $20,000 in 2017. During the time, Quebec was the only country to have attracted a lot of Chinese miners.
There were many hydroelectric dams in Canada. These dams produce cheap electricity in the area that is suitable for a greener future. In 2018, Quebec had to stop selling power for some time to miners. This step was taken because the province needed to save electricity for its residents.
Soaring needs and responsibilities
However, the electricity demand has not slowed in the province since then. In 2021, the province asked the miners to reduce power consumption by 95% for up to 300 hours.
As per the spokesperson of HydroQuebec, these demands were put in place and the measures taken regarding them were aimed at controlling their impact on the residents of the province. The province needed to manage the surplus responsibly to match the aspirations of Quebec society.
Relocate to another location
Hence, Bitfarms is looking for other locations for its specialist machinery. The company’s plan to expand to other locations will begin this year. In October last year, the company signed a deal to open a new mining plant in Argentina. The plant will start its operation in 2022.
According to the agreement, Bitfarms can consume up to 210 megawatts of electricity at a cost of $0.02 per kilowatt-hour at its discretion. For new miners in Quebec, today is equivalent to $0.15.
Gagon believes that the new territory will have more opportunities for taking over the entire power plant and building a large-scale mining operation at power costs that are half of the power cost in Quebec.
HIVE blockchain technologies is another Canadian cryptocurrency miner developing in this direction, a new location in Sweden, increasing the number of operation centres in the Scandanavian country. The number of units it is planning to open are four as part of the company’s growth strategy.
Sweden supplies HIVE with 33 MW of power and surpasses Quebec. Quebec was earlier the company’s biggest supplier of energy.
On the other hand, there is no stopping for Bitfarms even if the supply of energy is low. The company seeks to continuously develop, meaning more hashrate, more data centres. The company is also looking for ways to expand the lifespan of its equipment. They are moving older equipment to Argentina, as the operational price will be a fraction of what Quebec gives.
Quebec is a region where there is a surplus of energy. The province has exported more energy to the U.S. compared to any other Scandinavian country.