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BONNER – Bitcoin is taking a bath these days, dragging with it the rest of the world of volatile cryptocurrency.
But despite the decline in value of those electronic currencies of almost 80% compared to the historic high of a year ago, operations continue to hum along here in one of the largest cryptocurrency centers in North America.
"We're still connecting as usual," assured Jason Vaughn.
Vaughn is responsible for the site of the Bonner facility for HyperBlock Inc., based in Canada, a new giant on the relatively new block after purchasing Project Spokane at the start of this year. It calls itself "the diversified crypt head of North America".
"As usual" in the world of Vaughn, the continuous buzz of over 13,000 servers in the old planer building next to the 200 motorway.
On December 17, 2017, the price of a single Bitcoin reached a maximum of $ 19.650. Last month fell below $ 4000 and Friday remained above $ 3,100.
The CEO of HyperBlock, Sean Walsh, was in London in September to give a speech at the World Blockchain Forum. Walsh showed a 55-second YouTube video on the Bonner operation.
The untitled video begins and ends with a snowy overview of the mill site on the Blackfoot River. Provides a quick ride inside the huge building, interposing several short episodes.
The viewer is told that the structure is 240,000 square feet (about four times larger than the Washington-Grizzly stadium floor). There is "a lot of room for expansion" in the building. The operation has a capacity of 20 megawatts (MW) "with 60 MW of expansion on the site". The operation has "secure access at reduced costs" and "four distinct revenue streams".
Walsh pooh-poohs the idea that the Bitcoin bubble has exploded. In its 10 years of history the market has increased and decreased regularly.
"If you dig into the data … (is) it's absolutely an anti-bubble on longer time horizons," he said in London.
For example, when the price of Bitcoin approached $ 20,000 a year ago, it closed 2017 at $ 974. The vertiginous highs and lows are part of the game, Walsh said in London. "It continues to happen, it's the rule, not the exception."
Opposing opinions are almost fun to track.
"Bitcoin is practically dead, says teenage crypto phenom", a Friday MarketWatch story was staged.
"Bitcoin's death reports have been" very exaggerated "," a Forbes story replied.
"A year after the burst of the crypto bubble, will bitcoins ever recover?" Bloomberg wondered.
"Bitcoin was not a bubble until it was," commented the Wall Street Journal.
In a Friday email, Walsh said diversification is the key to his business.
"We have created HyperBlock to withstand the volatility and pressures of the encrypted market because we believe in the long-term promise of technology," he wrote.
It is not easy in a "very competitive" business, he said.
"The prolonged crisis in encrypted prices is putting many crypto-miners out of business, which is why we tend to be a little cautious and protective when it comes to talking about our business," Walsh said.
HyperBlock has recently launched Hypervault, a "fully secured custody solution" for cryptocurrency. The company reached an agreement with a Caribbean bank to use Hypervault to protect cryptographic resources, offering investors a certain amount of comfort against market fluctuations and upcoming government regulations.
Bitcoin is the main player, but not the only cryptocurrency of Bonner mines. But others are going even worse: the "ethers" of Ethereum have fluctuated just over $ 80 on Friday. It was worth over $ 1400 in January.
Bitcoin has another anniversary coming soon.
This and the blockchain technology that underlies it – and many will claim it will far outweigh – will turn 10 on January 3rd. That was the day in 2009 when someone or someone calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto created the "genesis block", the first entry in the bitcoin global transaction log.
At the beginning he had no practical application. The initial transaction has not occurred for more than 16 months. Then a Florida programmer named Laszlo Hanyeca paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two Papa John's pizzas. On May 22nd, the cyber-geeks of a certain world will celebrate the ninth Bitcoin Pizza Day. By today's standards, even considering the craters market, Hanyeca has paid more than $ 30 million for the pizzas.
Project Spokane opened Montana's first mining encryption operation in Bonner in April 2017. Shortly thereafter, area residents began complaining about the constant drone emitted by the hundreds of fan blades that cool the huge banks computer servers.
While 2018 was one of the constant price reductions, the local plant had ups and downs.
Most noise complaints were mitigated by the installation of new blades in the 144 roof exhaust fans in mid-July. It had been a couple of months since the board of Missoula Development Authority rejected the request of the owners of the rolling and HyperBlock sites to use the financing of the mill district taxes to help pay the change of fans .
The issue, exacerbated by the electricity supplier's appetite appetite, gave rise to a proposal from Missoula County to place a one-year moratorium on new or expanded cryptocurrency operations. In September, the county commissioners rejected this plan.
Vaughn said the expansion remains in Bonner's plans.
"We always try to expand, it's not new," he said.
"We are very fortunate to have such a competent and experienced local team that helps us ensure that we operate as efficiently and productively as possible," said Walsh. "And we deeply appreciate the continued support of the local community".
