Mining farm
Mining farm – is a data center, technically equipped to mine bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies. Mining farms emerged as a result of the constant complication of the mining process, which requires more technical, energy and financial resources.
How Mining Farms Can Solve the Hash Rate Problem
Hash Rate – is the speed at which a mathematical problem is solved. It is measured by the “hash per second” (H/s) parameter.
Miners get bitcoins, solving complex technical problems. At the first stages of bitcoin development, home computers could handle this. However, the volume of bitcoins emission is regulated by time, and a certain fixed amount of crypto currency is mined per time unit.
The more people got connected to the block chain network for mining, the more users began to claim new coins – and the coins themselves were issued in the same volume. With such high competition, powerful technical equipment is required from the participant in the chain. The more miners there are in the network – the higher the level of the Hash Rate the miner should have to solve the bitcoin mining problem.
Cryptocurrency mining farms allow the productivity of computers and, consequently, the Hash Rate to be maximized. The productivity of the largest farms can be several dozen PH/s (1015 hashes/second).
Technical characteristics of mining farms
Physically, crypto mining farm mining farms are rooms with a large number of computers and servers that take on tasks for mining.
There are also home-crypto mining farms. They differ from ordinary PCs, by being specially assempled and designed for mining. Home farms can bring profitability, but users often face the problem of excessive electricity consumption and overheating of the computer at home which makes mining unprofitable.
One of the main resources into which a miner has to invest is electricity. It is also a risk factor, since the mining farm requires a permanent 24/7 power source. In addition, a large number of processors require an appropriate cooling and ventilation system.
Mining farm ownership schemes
Since the launch of a mining farm requires large resources and investments, they usually belong to user pools, each of which gains a profit from the farm in accordance with the share of investments.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency mining farms
China is the leader in mining – according to some estimates, about 70% of all mining in the world take place here. Largest bitcoin mining farms exist in Iceland: the country attracts miners by a cold climate and inexpensive electricity.
BitFury, which even now mines about 12% of all bitcoins, has built three data centers on the territory of the Tbilisi economic zone: it is also profitable for Georgia to mine by means of low electricity tariffs.
The largest cryptocurrency mining farm in Russia, according to public statements of anonymous owners, unites about three thousand ANTMINER S9 systems with a total capacity of 38 PH/S.
Due to high profitability and the risk of physical damage, the exact location of the world’s largest farms remains unknown.