The Bitcoin Boom Reaches a Canadian Ghost Town
The Bitcoin Boom Reaches a Canadian Ghost Town
Published on September 04, 2018 at 04:45PM
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.
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Published on September 04, 2018 at 04:45PM
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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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The Bitcoin Boom Reaches a Canadian Ghost Town
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September 04, 2018
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