NEWS BRIEF: Atlanta becoming “crypto boomtown” due to cheap power grid
And you think your power bill is high
Photo credit: Courtesy CleanSpark
An innocuous-looking building in Norcross is now home to 6,000 high-powered computers cranking out new Bitcoin 24 hours a day. Las Vegas-based Cleanspark runs the nondescript piece of real estate, its second location in Atlanta, for mining of the valuable cryptocurrency, because the city meets certain infrastructure requirements: low-cost power and local governments that offer tax incentives. “Every miner wants to have the lowest cost of production. Sleepy rural settlements are converted into crypto boomtowns when those optimal traits are found,” said Corey Tyner, founder of the land brokerage firm Buy Yo Dirt. “Obviously, getting that as low as possible is what any miner wants to do,” Cleanspark CEO Zach Bradford said. “Georgia, we believe, has quite a robust resiliency in the power grid.” Technology website CNET reported last year that mining a single Bitcoin consumes 1,544 kilowatt-hours of power, equivalent to 53 days of power used by the average household. bisnow.com