The Big Sky Country state of Montana keeps raking them in. For the second time this month, a mining operation is announcing its moving to the Butte area. Power Block Coin LLC is reportedly plunking down a quarter of a billion dollars to upgrade existing facilities to mine the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin.
$250 Million Bitcoin Mining Campus Calls Butte, Montana HomeThe Montana Standard reports, “A company called Power Block Coin, LLC, plans to invest $251 million in capital improvements over 36 months in Montana Connections, a special tax district west of Butte.”
“Earlier this year, we started receiving inquiries from blockchain miners interested in low cost electrical capacity,” explained Aaron Tilton, CEO of Blue Castle Holdings, the parent company of Power Block Coin, LLC. “Not just any electrical capacity, all electricity is not created equal. Blockchain mining power has to be globally cost competitive, readily available and quickly scalable. It also has to have the right power load profile, accompanied with dependable existing infrastructure, at the appropriate locations,” Mr. Tilton said at the end of last year.
Blue Castle is a Utah-based holding company best known for its work in nuclear power plant energy development. Moving into the cryptocurrency mining space “was a great fit for us, we are already doing this type of development. We are currently selling the right kind of low cost installed capacity to miners via bilateral contracts. Therefore, a good portion of the power can be put to use before our peer-to-peer, spot market Power Block Exchange platform goes live in the 2nd quarter of 2018. 500MWe is roughly enough power to supply the global Ethereum network or about one fifth of the global Bitcoin network,” Mr. Tilton insisted.
That Q2 forecast appears to be on track, as Butte-Silver commissioners voted to develop data centers in what’s known as Montana Connections, described as “a special tax finance district west of Butte.” Over two years and two phases, the hope is online 135 megawatts of power through infrastructure such as a substation and up to “200 separate units that would use large amounts of power, which would be transmitted through the new substation. Those units could be anything from larger warehouse buildings to small shipping containers,” according to The Montana Standard.
Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/montana-scores-250-million-bitcoin-mining-campus/