A batch of equipment for bitcoin mining with a total capacity of 70 megawatts was imported from Asia to Russia. The cost of delivery is estimated at $60 million.
Approximately 20,000 devices for mining bitcoins worth $40-$60 million were imported In the Siberian region of Russia. The power of computers imported in Irkutsk region is 70 megawatts. The equipment is planned to be located in data centers of BitRiver located in Bratsk, Irkutsk region.
Igor Runetz, CEO and founder of BitRiver, said that the delivery took place in December 2020 and the imported machines already started working in BitRiver's Tier-III data center. He did not disclose the exact cost, as well as the models of computing machines imported.
According to the head of Chilkoot, a distributor of mining equipment manufacturers in Russia, Artem Eremin, the cost of such equipment could reach $50 million. The head of the Six-Nines data center (Sweden) Sergey Troshin estimated the supply at $40-$60 million.
According to experts, this is the largest single batch of computers for bitcoin mining imported in Russia. According to Troshin's calculations, about 1.1% of the total power of the world bitcoin network can be mined on it.
Russia ranks third in the mining world due to low prices on electricity and surplus capacity, which are estimated at 38-60 GW, notes the Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain (RAKIB).
BitRiver launched its first mining centers in the fall of 2018. They are located in rented buildings next to the world's largest Bratsk aluminum smelter of En + owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Like the plant, the data centers are supplied with electricity from the Bratsk hydroelectric power station. In 2019, Bloomberg said that Rosgvardia, Russian national paramilitary forces, is responsible for round-the-clock security of data centers.
Formally, BitRiver is not engaged in mining, but only in the provision of computing power for rent. Investors from the USA, China, Japan are among their customers.
