Because hydropower is cheap, in the mountains of Sichuan, there are 5 million bitcoin mining machines, so a rumor in the industry is: 70% of Bitcoin's computing power is in China, and 70% of China's computing power is in Sichuan.
Just like the butterfly effect, a recent torrential rain swept the mines in the deep mountains of Sichuan, which led to a 30% reduction in global bitcoin computing power.
25,000 people, hidden in the mountains, lived a lonely life of 'Ru Mao drinking blood'. After the rainstorm, many mine owners run, mining machine business, no longer profiteering industry, they are caught in an unprecedented survival dilemma.
Sudden rainstorm
In June of this year, the rainfall in Sichuan was a bit surprising. As a member of the mining army, Li Yang is paying close attention to the changes in the weather.
In addition to the Dragon Boat Festival day, Li Yang drove out of the heavy rain to buy food, other times, Dashui blocked them in the mountains, unable to walk.
As the rain gets bigger, the hydropower station cuts off the power supply to the mine. A power outage means that the mine can no longer operate. For the mine owner, the news is like a nightmare.
The rain is not ready to stop, Li Yang sees, the water level in the mountains is getting higher and higher.
At 10 o'clock on the night of the 26th, the flood suddenly came and the water level soared. Several mines with low altitudes suffered, including a large mine with tens of thousands of machines.
Li Yang’s mine is also included.
'We only have two people, but there are more than 2,000 mining machines. We can't rescue them at all, and we watched them being drowned.' Li Yang said.
After 3 days, more than 2,000 mining machines were rescued. The mining machine with a cost of 5,000 yuan is now a pile of scrap iron.
A torrential rain caused Li Yang to lose 10 million. Two or three manufacturers of cloud computing power, but they saw the business opportunities, and rushed to the mountains of Sichuan to find scrap mining machines.
'50 yuan a Taiwan. ' They bought these mining machines at low prices and prepared them as accessories for their mining machines.
Allegedly, The heavy rain in Sichuan caused 20,000 sets of mining machines to be flooded, with a loss of over 100 million yuan.
Some people in the industry speculated that it was because of this heavy rain that the ups and downs of the bitcoin price in early July went up and down.
The heavy rain in the mountains of Sichuan has reached the point where it can affect the price of Bitcoin?
Due to heavy rains, large-scale mines in Sichuan were cut off. By the 28th, the computing power dropped to 34.7EHash/s, and the loss was about 30%. Therefore, it is conservatively estimated that Sichuan has more than 30% of the bitcoin world's computing power.
A rumor in the industry is: 70% of Bitcoin's computing power in China, 70% of China's computing power in Sichuan.
Sichuan, why is it the most important coordinate in the Bitcoin world?
Mining army
There are more than 25,000 people in the mining army lurking in the deep mountains of Sichuan. In the words of the owner Li Wei, they lived a life like 'Ru Mao and blood.'
Sichuan has the most abundant hydropower resources in the country. There are more than 20 hydropower stations in the Lancang River Basin.
In the flood season, the cost of electricity in Sichuan can be as low as 0.08 yuan, while the cost of electricity in thermal power is 0.28 yuan, which is more than three times.
This is why the mining army is rushing to Sichuan.
'Electricity is directly pulled from the hydropower station. The hydropower station over there is too much electricity, and it can't be used at all.' A mine owner in Chengdu said.
The low price of water and electricity attracts the country's bitcoin mine owners to build in the mountains of Sichuan.
So much so that there is a saying in the industry: Sichuan has become the natural 'mineral capital' of Bitcoin.
The mine is not as mysterious as we think.
Near the hydropower plant, you can see a blue color steel plate room, away from tens of meters, you can hear the roar of the machine room. It is the air conditioning in the boom. Push the iron door, you can see a high A few meters of large computer room, densely covered with mining machines, numerous small lights flashing in the middle, like the blue eyes and cold eyes in the dark.
'The first time I saw it, I thought I came to the shooting scene of the Matrix, special science fiction. ' Li Wei said.
A 5,000 square meter mine can hold 40,000 mining machines. In the deep mountains of Sichuan, these large mines are like beasts that are constantly creating wealth.
Wealth has formed a cohesive force, attracting more players to enter.
Li Yang is one of them.
Li Yang is a native of Chengdu. He used to work at Apple. Because he felt that he was boring at work and didn't want to earn a salary. In 2017, he joined the mining machine hosting army and opened his own mine next to a hydropower station in Aba, Sichuan.
'This business is very simple, many people want to mine, but the cost of a single mining pool operation is too high, customers will pay for the mining machine, and then hosted to us. They use APP, you can check the status of the mining machine at any time. 'Li Yang Say.
This business, Li Yang has long been very clear: The power custodian fee is 0.45 yuan / kW ~ 0.5 yuan / kWh. If a thousand S9 mining machines can dig up 14,000 bitcoins per day, the cost of electricity is 10,000 yuan, and 4,000 can be earned every day.
So down, it is 1.46 million in one year. Apart from other expenses, a small mine that hosts 1,000 mining machines can earn 1 million a year.
At most, he has 5 mines, and his income is 5 million a year.
In the deep mountains of Sichuan, there are about 5 million mining machines, more than 600 large and medium-sized mines with more than 2,000 machines, and small mines are difficult to count.
But this money is not so easy to earn.
'Do you know what I am most afraid of? It is power outage and loneliness.' Li Yang said that power outage means losing money, but it is more horrible than losing money, but more difficult, but lonely.
Going out of the mountains, I can't see the forest in the side, except for the birdsong, only the roar of the computer room.
Everyday with him, only WeChat and games.
'People don't have money, not as good as ghosts. On this mountain, money is not as good as ghosts.' Li Yang once wrote such words in a circle of friends.
Hard to survive
The days when the miners have been moisturized have basically ended, and they are caught in an unprecedented production dilemma.
This year's Sichuan, the torrential rain was surprisingly large. Just a few days ago, Sichuan Province launched the Class II flood control emergency response for the first time in recent years. The Sichuan mine will usher in a power outage. A large number of miners decided to move the mining machine from Sichuan to Xinjiang. , began the largest computing power migration in history.
A Xinjiang mine owner said that he had 800 sets of 1,000 mining machines in hand, all of which were shipped from Sichuan.
Sichuan is losing its core strategic position of 'mineral capital'. The mining machine business is no longer a profiteering industry.
3. The price of mining machines increased, the electricity bill increased, and the computing power was excessive, which led to an unprecedented increase in mining difficulty.
Some small mine owners, the cost of digging a bitcoin, is close to $6,000. The current price of bitcoin is only about $6,300, and the profit is as thin as paper.
And Bitcoin's computing power is forming an extreme monopoly, squeezing small mine owners.
The mining machine business is being monopolized by Bitian and Avalon mining machines. Together, they have accounted for 87.5% of the entire Bitcoin world.
'Small mine owners can't compress the cost, and they don't have much right to speak. Others take 2 hairs 8, you can get 3 hairs 3, can't play. ' Angkor working in a large mine said.
Mining industry, after all, will be harvested by the giants. But Bitland, also began to launch its own managed mining machine service, small mine owners simply can not compete with the giant. The last little living space of small mine owners, is being deprived.
Li Yang said that he is ready to withdraw the customer's money and withdraw from the market. 'It really can't go on.'
And a large number of mine owners, have been forced to the corner, began to run.
'Every month, the custodian will pay the electricity fee of 500 yuan per month for a mining machine to the mine owner. The mine owner will run the electricity bills. 'Li Yang said that many small mine owners are really unable to make ends meet. , simply do not work, disappeared from the mountains.
After the torrential rain, there was a mine owner 's running road tide in Sichuan.
'It was crushed by the giants and suffered from natural disasters. It can't be done.' Li Wei said.
3. Migration, running, and mining are facing the most difficult survival dilemmas.
The beauty of power?
'Those western villages that were originally unknown, those who had never been visited in the industrial age, because of the entry of power, they began to emit the sci-fi light.
These calculations were scattered on the Dadu River, a tributary of the Lancang River, and indulged in the night of the Dalat Banner in Erdos. They slept in a small town in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang... The power of science and technology and the power of nature reached a fusion through computing power.
'Today, Bitcoin's total network computing power has reached about 30 million trillion hash collisions per second, equivalent to about 600 Tianhe No. 2 supercomputers, and is still growing at a high speed.' Wu Jihan, founder of Bitland, wrote in The Beauty of Computing Power.
He preached a set of infinitely beautiful 'computing aesthetics', but behind the aesthetics, it was the cruel calculation of rivers and lakes and the interests of crushing. Mining is moving towards industrialization and becoming a game of capital.
At this point, decentralized mining machines and mining pools began to appear, they called themselves revolutionaries, to change the ultra-monopoly bitcoin world.
'Cloud computing power mining' is one of them.
Their gameplay is to build multiple distributed mines and provide computing rental services with tens of thousands of real mining machines.
'The current computing power is too concentrated, and some decentralized gameplay is also difficult to change the current pattern and ecology.' Li Wei said.
But the essence of the blockchain is decentralization. The miners still have that belief. They firmly believe that the final mining industry will be broken by the center mine.
This may be the only belief that keeps them going.
How long does it take?
'5-10 years, slowly go to the territory of the giants. ' Li Wei said.
But will the giants wait for the revolution? Will they fight back?
The battle of power and the fire of the stars of the revolution have just ignited.
