5 Largest Bitcoin Mining Farms of the World

Bitcoin is getting a lot of traction these days. Thanks to the bullish Bitcoin price rally that constantly attracts more and more investors to dive into the Crypto space. As the institutional flow is continuously increasing, Bitcoin mining is also becoming an integral part of the Crypto industry. In fact, all around the world, huge Bitcoin farms are being established with a sole focus on mining Bitcoin.

What is Bitcoin Mining?

Bitcoin mining is considered the backbone of the Bitcoin network. It is a process conducted by the miners using specialized computers required to solve complex math puzzles for verifying the transactions on the network. By doing so, miners secure the network and discover new BTC. When a new transaction is added to the network, miners get a block reward.

Unfortunately for solo miners, it is tough to mine profitably, on their own, due to the following two reasons. The first reason is Bitcoin halving- an event programmed to occur when 210,000 BTC are mined. It automatically splits the block reward in half, meaning that the main prize gets smaller. The second reason is that the process becomes complicated as the collective computing power in the blockchain network increases.

So, to succeed, a large investment in high-quality computer equipment is essential. Many mining farms are developed in response to this situation.

Also read: What is Bitcoin mining?

What is a Bitcoin mining farm?

A Bitcoin mining farm is a large space, like a warehouse housing several computers dedicated to mining one or more Cryptocurrencies. These computers consume large amounts of energy, and thus air conditioning is needed to prevent them from overheating.

Different types of Machines stored in Mining farms

The two most common types of machines hosted in a farm are GPUs and ASICs. GPUs (graphics processing units) are specialized electronic circuits that are mostly used in computers and video games systems. They can be also used for mining Cryptocurrencies. ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) are integrated circuits designed for a particular use. Typically ASICs are much more powerful at mining Cryptocurrencies than GPU’s given their focused functionality.

Here are the 5 Largest Bitcoin Mining farms in the world

1. Bitfury

Founded by Valety Vavilov in 2011, Bitfury is the oldest Cryptocurrency farm located in Amsterdam. Currently, BitFury mines about 15% of all Bitcoins. The company utilizes its naturally cold climate for reducing operating costs and keeping the mining rigs cool. Bitfury makes its mining hardware and runs its own pool.

To date, the government of Georgia has done everything in their power to help Bitfury expand its operations. This has been reciprocated by the company, which recently began a property ownership blockchain for the Georgian government.

2. Bitman/Antpool

Founded by Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan in 2013, Antpool is one of the largest private Bitcoin-mining firm in the world. Wu was the first person to convert Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin white paper into Chinese. The firm also produces Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). Antpool earned $ 4 billion in 2017, despite the market slump and is considered as one of the wealthiest Bitcoin mining firms of the entire globe.