The challenges of large-scale crypto mining

It’s the question every company asks itself at some point: How do I scale?

But crypto mining isn’t just any other business, and it comes with its own set of scaling issues to consider. You can try climbing on your own, but you will spend more time tinkering with cooling systems and software than with productive mining. Such a wasted time could leave you behind in the fast-paced cryptocurrency industry.

At Genesis Mining, we get it. We have been doing industrial-scale mining since 2013 and have tried all the different hardware from all kinds of manufacturers, along with many different software and firmware options, and found the best solutions. We have experienced extreme climates: -40 ° C winters, 40 ° C summers and incredible Icelandic wind speeds! – and adjusted our cooling systems to protect our miners.

Today we have 12 data centers in 6 countries, and while we’ve made mistakes along the way, we’ve figured out how to successfully mine on a large scale through testing, experimentation, and trial and error.

Based on what we’ve experienced, here’s what you need to know about your sites, software, and staff so you can scale efficiently, cost-effectively, and securely, whether you want to grow bigger or add new centers around the world.

Design and construction of data centers

When you started your mining operations, you probably moved into an existing building and had to do a fair amount of electrical installation and retrofitting. However, you probably needed to continuously tune your cooling systems manually to get everything to work. The building wasn’t made for your mining operations, but you get it.

As you look at scaling, the first thing you need to think about is data center customization. You won’t find a pre-existing building that meets your ventilation, circulation, cooling and space needs, so why not build your own?

Building your own data center gives you the benefit of adapting your site to exactly what you want. But with the costs of building, planning, finding the right land, and finding the right contractor, you might want to consider taking a different approach to solving your data center problem.

Think about using a modular solution to build your new data center. Instead of building bespoke or starting from scratch on each site, build a modular container that can be manufactured and reproduced easily and economically. They can be shipped to your new site and can be up and running quickly, with minimal effort on site.

Modular solutions are also location independent and can solve a variety of geographic problems. As you scale, your mining operations will be further away from populated areas, because that’s where energy is cheapest, so you won’t have easy access to companies and contractors to help you. Modularization therefore becomes even more important to make centers work in the middle of nowhere.

This is the solution we created at Genesis Mining: an air-cooled forty-foot shipping container that houses more than a megawatt of miners that we are able to produce at affordable prices. Our container solves the problem of the intake air which may be too cold by recirculating the hot air from the miners into the intake. We don’t want a winter wind of -40 ° C to damage our miners!

Software solutions

It is easy to monitor your mining operations when you are small. But as you begin to scale and bring new sites online, you’ll need to think about your software needs for your data centers. Don’t just try to monitor your farm operations, but manage them.

While there are already software solutions on the market, there are a few reasons why they won’t be the right choice for operations management.

Software on the market right now tends to be blocked by the vendor. This means that a firmware vendor would only produce software that works with their firmware. You can’t use this kind of piecemeal solution for the whole farm.

As you begin to scale, you’ll find that your farm is no longer homogeneous across sites – you may have different types of devices running, client requirements, or special cooling conditions. An out-of-the-box solution that handles only part of your operations won’t be enough.

Unfortunately, many of today’s software management solutions are created by start-ups, not expert crypto miners who have seen the diverse and nuanced needs of the data center in real time.

Also, as new sites scale and open, sometimes in different countries, you need to think about software solutions that provide remote access. In reality, being on site to manage operations will no longer be feasible.

We saw the need for this type of software and knew we could create one from our many years of experience in crypto mining. Hexa is our enterprise-grade mining management solution that can handle various mining configurations and automates much of the manual work.

Hexa is not a monitoring solution, which displays data only, but a management solution, which allows you to configure the entire data center according to the needs of your farms. We’ve kept large-scale operations in mind, which is why it’s an enterprise-grade solution.

Additionally, Hexa has advanced data reporting and can track transactions, performance, costs, and more. Investors, partners and auditors will ask for information about your data, so having a robust reporting and retention system will be critical.

Team management

While software will play a vital role in our operations, no software can replace experience. As you scale, you will need to think about your teams and how they will be distributed across your sites. You can’t have everyone in the same place anymore, so you split your team? Or hire a completely new team for the new site, which will lead to a lot of new overheads and knowledge transfer considerations? How do you assign engineers where they go and which experts go where?

The answer is yes, you should split your teams. Make sure you have on-site maintenance teams who can take care of your rigs, replace fans, and make sure everything is working. Keep your core team of software and networking specialists, electricians and engineers together – your think tank – by making trips to mining farms only when needed. This is the approach we have taken at Genesis Mining and we believe it is the best fit for our industrial scale operations.

In cryptocurrency mining, timing is everything, and by having a thoughtful and lean process for scaling, not only will you be in a better position for future success, but you won’t waste time getting there in the present. It also helps to learn from those who preceded you.

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