Power-hungry crypto mines clean up as electricity cost rises

Tbilisi, Georgia

VAKHTANG Gogokhia's plan to extract cryptocurrencies from the netherworld of cyberspace relies on a strategy familiar to many old-school manufacturers who use a lot of energy - the cheaper the fuel, the better.

That's why Mr Gogokhia, who heads a startup called Golden Fleece, put a cargo container with Chinese-built computers inside a dilapidated Soviet-era tractor factory in Georgia, about 100km east of the Black Sea. The site made sense for running servers 24 hours a day because it has access to low-cost electricity generated by water flowing from the nearby Caucasus Mountains. There also are plans for solar panels and wind turbines.

Renewable energy is becoming the preferred way of mining digital currencies such as bitcoin as prices surge and the industry seeks more computing power. While traditional fuels such as coal remain staples for many utility grids, big miners including Bitmain Technologies, HIVE Blockchain Technologies and Bitfury Group are tapping clean power in places such as Canada, Iceland and Paraguay - and luring investors worr…