Large-scale Bitcoin miners in the US are looking to Scandinavia, and countries in the Middle East to expand their energy-intensive industry.
Bitcoin miners are searching for regions with fewer policy risks after the US dethroned China as the world’s Bitcoin mining hub following Beijing’s ban on crypto in May 2021, Bloomberg reported.
Last month, the Texas state energy operator instituted a review process that could delay energy-intensive crypto miners for a few months from connecting to the power grid.
“We are geographically diversified in the US … but we are also looking outside the US,” Mike Levitt, the chief executive of Texas-based mining company Core Scientific, said at the Bitcoin Conference 2022 in Miami.
The most logical regions are Scandinavia and the Middle East, where some nations have suitable power sources and capital, he added.
Bitcoin miners had been flocking to Texas for its low electricity prices and liberal regulations on crypto mining. New York and Washington have put forward strict regulations on crypto miners due to their large demand on local grids and environmental concerns.
Miners say the regulatory efforts are a reason to look elsewhere.
“The Middle East is a very interesting place because they have asymmetry in power and energy,” Fred Thiel, chief executive of Marathon Digital, said at the conference.
“In the UAE in the summertime, they generate four gigawatts of power to run their air conditioners, the other nine months of the year they only use one gigawatt and three gigawatts sitting idle.”
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