Bitcoin Mining has begun a new Secret Power Plant

In Canada, a Bitcoin mining firm illegally tapped an empty natural gas well near a rich area, setting off a There Will Be Blood-style drama. If it hadn’t been for noise complaints from nearby hot tub users, the company Link Global might have gotten away with stealing gas. Everything is included in this article. Last October, Greystone Manner homeowners began hearing an obnoxious noise that sounded “like a jet engine warming up on the tarmac,” according to a CBC News report from August.

“We have a hot tub in the back,” one person told CBC News, complaining about the airplane-like sound disturbing the peace. “There’s a premium you pay for this kind of place,” they added. According to CBC News, the neighbours gathered and discovered that Link Global had failed to notify anyone, including the public utilities commission and the well’s owner, Maga Energy. Taking something without telling the owner is theft.

The Alberta Utilities Commission is now apparently pursuing a $5.6 million (USD) fine, as well as penalties, for profits from power and Bitcoin. It was discovered that the corporation operated two under-the-radar power plants, one of which was operational for 426 days. Four 1.25 MW generators were purportedly fueled by the covert energy facilities, enough to power nearly 6,000 houses in Texas. Alternatively, each of them would consume about 7,400 cubic feet of natural gas every hour.

Bitcoin mining uses vast and continuously increasing amounts of electricity since it is a race to solve a complex mathematical problem; whoever’s high-powered gear solves the problem first receives a block of 6.25 Bitcoin. As a result, any estimate of electricity per Bitcoin will be speculative, but according to the New York Times, mining one would consume enough energy to power an average household for nine years.