Bitcoin: Paraguay plans world’s largest mining farm & Hashrate falls 25%
The Government of Paraguay and the Blockchain Technology Foundation “Commons Foundation”, based in South Korea, have signed an agreement to serve as the basis for the construction of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining farm in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.
A press release from the Commons Foundation states that the “Golden Goose Project” will be implemented in Ciudad del Este, one of the country’s most important cities, known for its tourism industry and economic development.
The contract stipulates that the government will provide five plots, a total of 50,000 square meters, for the start of the “Golden Goose” project near the Itaipu hydropower plant, the world’s largest clean power plant, and will grant a stable electricity price for a period of 15 years.
Paraguay is regarded as a centre for renewable energies, as all electricity comes from hydropower plants. The Itaipu hydroelectric power station is the most important in the world. Only 20 percent of the energy is consumed by Paraguay itself, the rest is exported. Choi Yong-Kwan, Chairman of the Commons Foundation, therefore stressed that the mining farm will be very environmentally friendly:
Only 10 to 20 percent of the electricity is produced at the Itaipu hydropower plant and consumed in Paraguay. More than 80 percent of the electricity is exported overseas. We will build the world’s largest mining center in Paraguay with low cost and abundant clean energy.
Hugo Velázquez Moreno, Vice President of Paraguay, commented on the nation’s interest in the project and assured that not only is the Foundation contractually supported by the government, but they also hope in the future to adapt the Constitution to this new industry:
Paraguay’s government will actively support the Commons Foundation’s “Golden Goose Project” and provide tax relief through constitutional amendments.
This is a fairly significant statement if it turns out to be true. If the Paraguayan Parliament were actually to decide on constitutional amendments to grant tax relief or even to recognise the legal status of crypto currencies and Bitcoin, this would be a major breakthrough of crypto currencies on a global scale.
Bitcoin hash rate drops 25%
Meanwhile, according to data from blockchain.com, the total hashrate of the Bitcoin network, the aggregated computing power, decreased from the peak of 54 million tera hashes per second (TH/s) on October 2 to 41 million on November 25 – a decrease of almost 25 percent.
In an interview with CoinDesk, Mao Shixing, founder of F2pool, the third largest mining pool, said that an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 Bitcoin miners have left the network since mid-November due to falling prices.
Mao explained that most of the miners that might have stopped operating are probably those that use older models, such as Bitmain’s Antminer T9+ and Canaan Creative’s AvalonMiner 741. These miners have an average hash power of about 10 TH/s and, according to the F2pools Miner Revenue Index, are currently estimated to lose money.
